Now I am sure I vaguely remember French act Mortis Mutilati although having lost digital files from before 2013 can’t quite remember where from. Their logo and the cover art from second album Nameless Here For Evermore which was released via Naturmacht is definitely familiar though. Now the band is on album number 5 and it is coming out independently. They have a very impressive pedigree about them with various members playing in past and present with acts such as Hats Barn, The Negation, Ishtar, Azziard and Moonreich among others. Previous albums have tackled subjects such as Taphophilia “a love of funerals, cemeteries and the rituals of death.” I guess that is a kind of common theme for the black metal genre but here they take things a step in a different direction as the album title suggests. It was only recently I found German band Uprising tackling the sensitive subject of an air crash in their album II and thought it an odd thing for a genre normally more inclined to glorify death and destruction but make no mistake this is certainly not doing that. It is easy if not in the memory to find information on TWA flight 800 a Boeing 707 which crashed in Rome in 1964 on take-off killing 50 passengers and crew. This is its tale of tragedy in musical form.
Highly melodic it is too from the mournful guitar lines taking us in on the ‘Road To Nowhere’ there is definitely an ellagic shroud cast over things. Vocalist Macabre broods over things with thick rasps of disgust and the mood is sombre and far from jubilant. Musically it is quite mid-paced heightening projection of pathos and even on the first track you are aware this is not going to be the most cheerful of listens, which obviously it should not be either as the band mark their respect to the fallen. Heightening everything mentioned we suddenly find the spell of some choral vocals from singer Asphodel increasing the sorrow even further. Her parts on the album are subtle but definitely evoke the funereal air as do the ghostly samples between tracks which sound like they are probably black box recordings from the cabin of the doomed flight. ‘Flames Behind You’ builds urgency with some panic conveyed by drum flurries. The lyrics are in French but you can feel the despair conveyed along with anger whatever the language; Asphodel’s mournful wails of lament backing them up. Sinuous guitar work and ragged vocals flow over Deathcrown, never urgent one can imagine a grim reaper casually claiming souls as he picks amidst the wreckage of the crash and a huge sense of tragedy is definitely conveyed in mood and emotion. The title track is simply left to the musicians and has a definite air of depressive black metal about it. I’m not including the word suicidal in that description as it wouldn’t sit well.
The grim tale continues and the narrative is told in the titles such as ‘The Smoke Of Your Corpse’ and ‘Rising Souls’. Although musically this is pretty accessible albeit it complicated and with a fair bit going on in it, there’s no ignoring the fact that it leaves you feeling like you can practically smell a charred charnel house in its wake and it definitely attacks all the senses and imagination leaving the listener in a very morbid place. Hopefully that is just what the band were looking to do and they have certainly achieved it even if it is an uncomfortable listening experience for those willing to take a trip on the doomed flight. I think it’s best to leave the ‘Ashes’ of the last near 10 minute track to settle and reflect upon it all. Black Metal can be ultimately grim but at least here it is respectfully so.
(7.5/10 Pete Woods)
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