Mortification is a band that will divide metalheads purely
based on their ideology alone. They are, yes, one of those Christian
metal bands, one of those that go against the grain and use an art form that is
aesthetically and traditionally prone to blasphemy for worship. In fact these
Aussies are one of the more well-known light forces (Light Force was actually
the previous name of Mortification) , having churned out a steady flow of
records since 1991, and they’re still going at it. They’ve experimented with
marginally different variations of metal (as we shall see here), but generally
kept to a death/thrash core. Now, personally I couldn’t be fucked what your
ideologies are, but I do care about your music. While Mortification have made
many moves that disappointed me over the course of their long career, none of
them were to do with Christianity (or at least not directly). I still think Scrolls
of the Megilloth is a classic slab of Aussie metal – a dirty, little death
metal record with plenty of fury and a depraved, surprisingly evil tone that
seemed contradictory to their lyrical content. Twenty years down the track, I
stand in a different place, however.
The latest Mortification EP, Scribe of the Pentateuch,
has much of the musical content we loved on early Mortification – namely their dirty,
thrashy, Morbid Angel-esque death riffs – but there are strong touches of
traditional doom or heavy metal on tracks such as “Scribe of the Pentateuch”
and “In Garland Hall”. This genre move itself is not the mistake, but rather
the execution of the entire mini-album is where failure lies. The vocals sound
adolescent and poorly rehearsed, both clean and harsh, as if they are being
pushed thoughtlessly into the microphone by an unfounded sense of
self-assurance. The riffs whether they be death, thrash or heavy metal are
clumsy and carelessly written, rehashing the boring mistakes of many bands from
three different sub-genres, and of the musicians themselves. One actually
wonders why Mortification has continued down the path of metal long since their
musical freshness and vigour has been depleted. Once-present speed and monstrosity
has not been reclaimed on this stale-sounding record. On the other hand, the attitude and philosophy
of the music seems to be still very much alive, and I think these days this is
Mortification’s primary driving force. As much as I might claim to be
indifferent to ideologies, I suspect the Bible-bashing nature of this band is
hindering their musical progression and quality, taking precedence over the
music itself. Throw on top some mind-numbingly shit cover art (are they really
suggesting robotic alien construction vehicles penned the books of Moses?) ,
and you have a pretty unsatisfactory little excursion all around. I will give
some meager points due to a moment on the song “Weapons of Mass Salvation” in
which some genuine atmosphere is brought about by dark riffing and rare vocal
quality.
In summary: Scribe of the Pentateuch feels rushed and
uncared-for, a battered vehicle carrying Christian sentiments which has been
wearing down for years. Avoid this one.
Standout tracks: “Weapons of Mass Salvation”
Score: 4.0
