Mortuary – Nothingless Than Nothingness – Album Review

Source // www.hornsup.fr

French death/thrashers Mortuary have been around since the late 80’s and that’s abundantly clear to hear on their new album Nothingless Than Nothingness. With a sound that can only come from a band neck-deep in the roots of thrash and death metal, this relentless barrage is an accomplished statement of intent from a group of musicians who’ve sadly wallowed in semi-obscurity for much of their existence. Well, all that’s about to change!

Akin to the aural onslaught of Opprobrium (née the original Incubus) and the early releases of Malevolent Creation, each track on Nothingless Than Nothingness delivers smothering groove, classic death metal riffing, Slayer-esque solos and a percussive pummeling that threatens to consume your entire weekend; i.e you’ll be spinning this beast more than once and that’s a guarantee!

From the doomy intro of “Only Dead Witness” – a fully formed song in itself – the all out flurries of blast-beat led speed and chunky thrash riffs that follow effortlessly bob and weave their way around Patrick Germonville’s throaty growls and hollers. The result is a truly exemplary amalgamation of all that makes death/thrash so damn appealing when done right; nothing new then but nothing less than completely engrossing throughout.

It’s the manner in which Mortuary blend furious death metal with moments of sublime, semi-melodic, thrash riffs – and no better than on “Pleasuffering” – that hit the hardest. Deceptively catchy, each track overflows with a thousand ideas that never feel forced, the likes of “Tube” particularly demonstrating Mortuary’s knack for mixing the two sub-genres with consummate ease.

There’s nothing left to say, Mortuary’s 5th album simply borders on utter death/thrash perfection! 9/10