CORPUS MORTALE

So yeah, I've been digging bands on the Neurotic (Willowtip in the States) roster lately, and after consuming SICKENING HORROR's technical brand of death metal I decided to give "A New Species of Deviant" by Denmark's CORPUS MORTALE a spin. I was not disappointed. Rather than taking the road less traveled of their label mates in SICKENING HORROR, CORPUS MORTALE go for more of a traditional, though still musically accomplished, brand of U.S. style death metal.

When not listening intently to the intricacies of each track, the thing that grabs you about "A New Species of Deviant" is the album's feel. Dense, textured riffs and a delightfully crisp rhythm section go a long way toward making this one an enjoyable listening experience. Furthermore, the guitar solos mesh perfectly with the riffs and rhythms, resulting in a concern with flow and feeling over virtuosity. Lyrically and compositional speaking, nothing is especially inventive here (e.g., the topic dealt with in "Postmortem Rape" is certainly not a new one in the DM realm),but the songs are solid and the style familiar, yet invigorating. When the band slows it down on songs like "Scorched" and "Devoid of Passion", the groove locked into is chilling and heavy as hell. In the case of the former, the lightly picked notes that morph into slithering crunch is demonstrative of the kind of slow burn that acts like MORBID ANGEL and IMMOLATION do so well. In other words, CORPUS MORTALE have a knack for death metal mood creation.

In the final analysis, "A New Species of Deviant" is a no-brainer for death metal purists. I cannot imagine the punters not finding lots to like about this one. I'll be paying closer attention to this Neurotic-Willowtip partnership in the future. You should too.