Friday, June 8, 2012

Morbidity - Pits of Eternal Torment [2012 DEMO]


I love the fact that these bands are still releasing demo tapes, still channeling archaic evil in their crude cover arts, and still laying bludgeoning bricks upon the foundation of death metal built so sturdily in the late 80s. With my tastes firmly grounded in the old school of this particular genre, raw production values have always been preferred because they unlock a new power in a release's sound and truly reflect the grim and morbid subject matter at hand. However, sometimes a sound is shrouded so far into obscurity that its roughness can only be detrimental, and that's exactly the problem with Morbidity's first demo, Pits of Eternal Torment. The band has obviously got chops, but the quality here is hampered by the difficulty required to recognize it through the hazy veil of mist.

If it's not already obvious, Bangladesh's Morbidity play old school death metal in its purest form. The riffing strides the same lines as early Death and Autopsy but with a Swedish air for malevolence. This demo (which runs at a mere eleven minutes) doesn't offer a heaping amount of content to go off of, but the goal is relatively simple here: produce short but sweet bursts of speed while supplying the standard gutturals and lyrics of pain and torture. The latter is a particularly strong component of this release, covering familiar ground fluently and compellingly. Sadly, it's all buried in denser fog than one might find on a Mantas rehearsal tape. Each individual instrument is nearly impossible to make out, and sometimes even riffs take a backseat to feedback and distortion. The vocals suffer the most, reducing their force to little more than what sounds like a death 'shout' of sorts.

I hate to criticize a group for circumstances that were probably beyond their control, but the simple fact is that this demo won't provide an entirely satisfactory experience with the hollow production it bears in its current state. Morbidity has plenty of potential, sure; the frenzied drumwork and time-tested style are ample evidence that if this band would enter a studio, they might come away with a full length not far from an average Dark Descent or Hell's Headbangers offering. As it stands with the scant content, amateurish sound quality, and questionable vocals, however, Morbidity isn't quite up to code just yet. Their live cover of Nunslaughter's "Killed by the Cross" indicates that they'd be pretty fun to see in person, though.

   Overall: 6/10 (Fair)

No comments:

Post a Comment