MORTUALIA - Wild, Wild Misery review

MORTUALIA - Wild, Wild Misery

MORIBUND RECORDS


I've heard this release before and if you own at least a quarter of the Moribund catalog then so have you. Almost every depressive black metal act in their catalog sounds similar to this. Toss in the fact that this is the ongoing solo project by Shatraug, who's been in such great Finnish black metal acts over the years, then yeah the sound and frosty tone is like family. There's not much difference from this and his last one, Blood of the Hermit, sound-wise at least. The last one contained five cuts all over ten minutes in length and trust me after six minutes his riffs got repetitive. 

On his latest Shatraug hands up eight cuts all under the ten minute mark which is smart. While I thought his previous effort was almost soul draining, Wild, Wild Misery sounds quite upbeat. But hey I always feel better when decent black metal is playing. As far as some of his better known Finnish black metal acts go, this touches closer to his early work in HORNA. It's the cold atmospheric tone that carries you along. Hey you can be freezing your ass off out in the cold but if you start walking you'll forget about the cold. It's the same principle here in the music.

Wild, Wild Misery starts off at slightly upbeat melodic pace but quickly succombs to depressive blackened doom hypothermia. But like I started out saying, I've heard it all before. You've got plenty of depressive themes working here such as feelings of isolation, shrieks of anguish from the nether regions, hypnotic riffs that can also induce sleep and of course gloomy hopelessness. What's ironic is that Shatraug lives in the city of Tampere, a very crowded place by Finnish standards. One wonders why he could be so depressed while living in a place with all the amenities. 

So is Wild, Wild Misery any good? Well sure but whatever musical project Shatraug has had his hands in has been good. So that's not really saying much. Does it hit the BURZUM-esque mark? Well of course but without all the Tolkien reference. Better yet since I love my Finnish black metal then of course I give this my seal of approval.

Rating: 4/5

http://www.moribundcult.com/

https://www.facebook.com/wildwildmisery/

NEKRO DRUNKZ - Lavatory Carnage review

NEKRO DRUNKZ - Lavatory Carnage

MORIBUND RECORDS

The children of IMPETIGO have returned. Actually that's not exactly true since there has been a plethora of bands influenced by the Bloomington, Illinois maniacs ever since their Horror of the Zombies full length was unleashed upon us in 1992. The NEKRO DRUNKZ from Oregon are just one of the latest to spew the same type of sleazy death, thrash and grind. Also they (aka: Disgustor and Crystal Seth) have been doing so for the past seven years with various full lengths, splits and yeah, live releases on cassette which are highly collectible I might add.

This duo of disgust is not new to me. I got suckered into picking up one of their past releases just cause of the cover art. Speaking of which, the cover art on here, by Matt Stikker, is exceptional. But anyways on here the duo's latest full length you've got a decent 18 songs of pure sick death grind filth. Let me add that this ain't your typical brutal shtick. The musicianship is first rate, imagine CARCASS (ok that's pushing it so how about GENERAL SURGERY.) going this route and you've got NEKRO DRUNKZ down. You've got these filth coated death grind riffs with duel vocals (Disgustor doing the low toned death voice while Crystal Seth adds some high pitch squeals, shrieks and vomiting blood sounds) add to that the dive bomb like sharp solos by Crystal Seth that slice through the murky depths the songs trudge though. 

Yeah I'm a sucker for bands like this. Then again I've been a fan of IMPETIGO and MACABRE for ages so it goes without saying yeah this is a fantastic release. But of course since it's on Moribund it has to be good. Yes I'm bias and you can go fuck yourself.

Rating: 4/5

http://www.moribundcult.com/

https://www.facebook.com/NekroDrunkz