If you dig deep enough amongst the swathes of generic, identikit black metal bands out there in the world, occasionally you come across a rare treat; a truly original band. These obscure, underground veterans from Northern Italy have been ploughing their own furrow since the late 1980’s, and have always managed to create something totally unique, a sound that just couldn’t be anyone else. To the uninitiated black metal fan; no they don’t sound anything like Dark Funeral, Gorgoroth or any of the Scandinavian black metal bands you’ve heard so much about. It’s probably not too surprising considering the roots of the band go way back, many years before the second wave of Scandinavian black metal was even conceived.
Mortuary Drape have always had to my mind, a huge chunk of rough, nasty European thrash in the filthy and twisted mix that is their sound. For some reason I am often reminded of Destruction and Venom in particular (I don’t know if the band would agree), something to do with the rawness and urgency of the riffs. The other old thrash band that springs to mind is Coroner for several reasons; firstly the bass work on all of Mortuary Drape’s albums has been highly distinctive, never just rumbling under the guitars but following its own melodies, secondly, despite the rawness there is also a rather progressive, technical edge to Mortuary Drape. The songs twist and turn, suddenly changing tempo, shifting up or down a key, always infused with morbid, melodramatic theatricality.
Considering this is the band’s first album in ten years, this a remarkable return to form in my opinion. All the trademark Mortuary Drape sounds are present here; the cranium-snapping thrash, the huge dollop of traditional balls-to-the-walls heavy metal, the bestial, eerie, reverb-drenched roar of excellently-named vocalist Wildness Peversion, the strange moments of pure musical theatre, odd drifting arpeggios, strange howls and wails, sudden key shifts and time changes. Mortuary Drape manage somehow to be hypnotically primitive and yet technical at the same time, ramming a repeating riff down your throat, then surprising you by going off in a different direction entirely. Like other albums, the dark, sinister, dramatic atmosphere is back with a vengeance here too, in part due to the raw, slightly rough production (which definitely has an 80’s vive to it), but also the sheer creative lunacy of the band themselves. They may not overwhelm you with layers and layers of cold, fast picked minor chords, but they really are masters at creating a dark, evil, theatrical atmosphere.
For those of you seeking some of the more obscure oddities in the black metal genre, Mortuary Drape are a highly entertaining and intriguing prospect – one I would recommend. For fans of the band, I would say that all the hallmarks of a great Mortuary Drape album are here. It is dark, mysterious, heavy, dramatic and highly creative.
(8.5/10 Jon Butlin)
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