There are some bands who I view as too trve for your average festival line up and Morta Skuld are one of them. They’re the sort of artist you’d find on a Maryland Deathfest or OEF line up and those in the know would lose their minds over such a booking. The sort of kvlt act that only the initiated can enjoy. I’m kind of over that way of thinking now and just enjoy what I enjoy (false I know). However, there is still a little part of me that thinks there is nothing better than the quality of the underground. An evening in with good craft beer, unknown Death Metal ‘classics’ and video games is my idea of heaven (or hell if you want to be lame and stereotypical of the Metal scene).
Formed back in 1990, the heyday of Death Metal, Morta Skuld hail from Milwaukee in the US a place I and other morbid folk would likely link to Jeffrey Dahmer. So, I guess you could say it’s pretty Death Metal? Anyway in 1993 they dropped Dying Remains their debut, and an album which is amongst the collections of many an underground fanatic. I can’t say the same for much of their other material but they have at least remained somewhat consistent. This is a surprising factor given the mass of line-up changes, the only original member now being guitarist Dave Gregor. New blood can be exciting though so let’s see if Suffer For Nothing the bands sixth full length can tread an exciting path. The album comes through Peaceville Records and I’ve no doubt will be steeped in the old school!
Opening up with Extreme Tolerance we get straight into OSDM barbarity, Thrash laden with gruff, legible vocals it creates a real purist atmosphere, even amid the clean-cut production. Abyss Of The Mind amps up the memorability with some powerful, albeit standard riffs and catchy vocal sections, I dig it. Again, a similar theme is found in Dead Weight, it’s nothing new or even necessarily exciting but it’s good well written OSDM, which is to be expected from a band such as Morta Skuld. Divide The Soulless and The Face I Hate add to this pool, strong OSDM, no frills, just good. Is that enough in the modern era though?
One thing we don’t need is instrumentals so it’s unfortunate that Forbidden is there to ‘break up’ the halfway point of the record, absolute filler. Thankfully Godlike Shell gets straight back into the relentless OSDM barbarity that the rest of the record has projected. The title track boasts quite a bit of memorability, one thing is for sure with this album it’s very consistent, no side is better than the other. Final track Machines Of Hate doesn’t really have the sort of bravado of a climax but then this isn’t the sort of album for that, it’s more a record to just belt out some killer tunes, which it does.
So, I’m conflicted, on the one hand this is a strong album, especially for an older Death Metal band. I really like that it has stayed true to the OSDM roots from which it was spawned but perhaps I’m just too false now? I really love the sound and almost all of the songs have a punch to them but it’s not thinking out of the box at all, I’ll excuse it given the bands history but equally I’m not awestricken, I think nowadays I’m all about bands who push the envelope, with a handful of exceptions of course.
(8/10 George Caley)
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