ALBUM REVIEW: Mortem Solis – Krisiun
Brazil’s KRISIUN are a band that, for fans of death metal, need little introduction. Since their formation in 1990, the Ijuí based trio have been producing consistently great records for over three decades. They’ve gone on to garner a worldwide fanbase and critical acclaim over the years, becoming arguably the biggest, most important and influential extreme metal act to come out of Brazil that isn’t named SEPULTURA. The band’s latest, twelfth album, Mortem Solis, is yet another incredibly impressive slab of death metal that holds much of the fierce, groove-laden sound that the band has become famous for, along with a few subtle twists on their established formula that make this album perhaps one of their most visceral to date.
Sworn Enemies has some ferocious, melody-tinged guitar work, impactful drums and sludgy gutturals, giving this a monstrous sound. It’s an excellent piece of death metal that sets the tone for the rest of the album extremely well. Serpent Messiah, with its dramatic sound and thick groove, begins in a subdued fashion before morphing into a chaotic, caustic track with brilliantly dissonant leads and thunderous basslines which, when coupled with the intricate drums and throaty vocals, makes for an unhinged and aggressive take on what the band were doing on the album’s opener.
Swords Into Flesh takes the cacophonous elements of the previous two tracks and makes them even more visceral, whilst injecting plenty slick riffs into the mix, striking a perfect balance between the band’s rabid side and their infectiously catchy one to result in a song that is acerbic and melodic in equal measure. Necronomical brings the tempo to a relative crawl, with a steadier approach to the drums and bass, along with the marching, rhythmic guitars which add a vast and imposing edge to the music. It gradually gains momentum, but on the whole this serves as an effective example of how to write mid-paced death metal. Tomb Of The Nameless is built around excellent, eclectic guitar hooks, ranging from technical passages through to frenetic ones. It blends together both modern and classic extreme metal elements, making for arguably one of the most impressive offerings on the record so far.
Dawn Sun Carnage, a short instrumental piece with a folky influence and a powerful, cinematic feel, sets an ominous tone for the track that immediately follows it, Temple Of The Abattoir; this particular track has a cavernous side to it, which is utilised to full effect to make this song sound utterly imposing. Discordant guitars, frenzied drums and bellicose vocals all lend a darker and more urgent sound, tinged with melodic flourishes, making it easily one of the album’s more grating and fierce numbers, whilst still possessing lots of catchy riffs.
War Blood Hammer, with its huge grooves, rumbling bass and thunderous drums, sounds massive. It’s peppered with tight leads and bestial vocals, and lurches between atonal sections and denser rhythmic parts with ease, ebbing and flowing between the two without being too jarring. As Angels Burn is a short, sharp shock of crushing death metal with great, meaty hooks and unpredictable guitars which serves as possibly the album’s most rabid offering, making a significant impression with its savage and dizzying songwriting despite being a fairly short. Worm God, with its slower sound, is another change of pace that works well. It adopts a bleaker feel without sacrificing any of the core elements within the band’s sound, making this final song a dark, brooding take on death metal that shows that KRISIUN can be every bit as emotive as they are aggressive.
When a band reaches a point where they have as many albums out as KRISIUN have, each successive record risks being disregarded by fans if it doesn’t match up to the standards set by the band’s classic output. Similarly, once many bands have ten or 12 records out, it often feels as though they are going through the motions when it comes to creating new music as opposed to doing anything that matches up to the benchmark of their best records. Luckily, KRISIUN, are one of those few exceptions who not only still have the capability and the drive to put out great new music, but Mortem Solis does feature quite a few tracks that could stand, quality wise, alongside their most accomplished and celebrated work. Tracks like Tomb Of The Nameless, Temple Of The Abattoir, War Blood Hammer and As Angels Burn in particular are fantastic, and push the band’s traditionally weightier and muscular death metal into far more abrasive and grating territories, showing that even a dozen albums deep into their career they are willing to mess with the formula and still create world class music. And if this album is anything to go by, they aren’t running out of ideas any time soon.
Rating: 8/10
Mortem Solis is out now via Century Media Records.
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