Mortuary – The Autophagous Reign – Album Review

French death/thrashers Mortuary have been plying their trade since the glory days (the late 80’s, if you hadn’t already guessed) and their old-school roots are abundantly clear to hear on their 6th album, The Autophagous Reign.

This is a band who’ve never really been paid their dues, despite being capable of annihilating the majority of their peers in the death/thrash arena for the last 30 years. Perhaps that’s why they sound so ridiculously pissed off on The Autophagous Reign, as they go about their business in a manner that can only be described as fuckin’ hostile. The point being, why the fuck haven’t you woken up to Mortuary before now!!

Which is a legitimate question. 2016’s Nothingless Than Nothingness was an absolute masterpiece and should have been on the receiving end of a stream of complimentary plaudits and The Autophagous Reign certainly threatens to top it, in the brutality stakes if nothing else!

These guys have always been a relentless machine and their latest barbaric barrage of neck-wrecking deathly thrash anthems are as vicious and merciless as ever! These guys do not let up and whether it’s opener “Delete / Replace” or the likes of the rapid fire “Cheptel”, or the epic riff-fest that is “Memorial in vivo”, that rip your face clean off, the overall effect is the same; a consistent, remorseless beating from masters of the trade.

At times, The Autophagous Reign is so monumentally severe that it’s virtually too much to take, but that, we fear, would be the point. After all, this is an album that comments on our capitalistic system which feeds on resources that can’t be renewed, the ruling few on top of the food chain enslaving the 99% and our eventual ecological and societal suicide. In that context, what would be more appropriate than the heaviest of music echoing and befitting its heavy subject matter?

From the machine-gun like onslaught of Mortuary’s percussive battery to the harsh screams of frontman Patrick Germonville, The Autophagous Reign hammers home its point with little finesse but an undeniable clinical efficiency and, while not perfect, it’s certainly an album that’s hard to ignore. 7/10

Celebrating the band’s 30th anniversary, The Autophagous Reign‘s limited edition DigiPak CD first print features not less than three bonus tracks, which are all brand new recordings of songs from Mortuary‘s demo days

MORTUARY – The Autophagous Reign

Released: 8th November 2019 via XENOKORP