{"id":20287,"date":"2014-05-09T00:00:28","date_gmt":"2014-05-09T00:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=20287"},"modified":"2014-07-16T11:32:04","modified_gmt":"2014-07-16T11:32:04","slug":"album-review-mordbrand-imago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-mordbrand-imago\/","title":{"rendered":"MORDBRAND – Imago (2014) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

MORDBRAND
Imago<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nDeathgasm (2014)<\/span>
Rating: 6.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Autopsy\u2019s Eric Cutler on guest vocals!! Well, now there\u2019s a way to grab my attention. Mordbrand is a Swedish trio that plies their trade by playing grisly death metal. Imago<\/em> is the debut full-length release from the band, and follows on from a batch of well-received EPs as well as a couple of split projects. <\/p>\n

The record boasts nine tracks which, to put it bluntly, come across as a foetid combination of Entombed and Autopsy. In a sense I\u2019m slightly disappointed by this mix, however, because when you hear that a band is from Sweden, I always dread the thought of hearing the usual buzzsaw riffs we\u2019ve become accustomed to over the years. Mordbrand though \u2013 like so many other acts \u2013 are reliant on that frothing, salivating type of chainsaw juggernaut. <\/p>\n

I just feel like I\u2019ve heard the riffs so many times before, but credit where it\u2019s due, there are some unusual touches on this opus which make it stand out from the crowd. This is apparent in the opening slop of \u2018Revelate\u2019 which still maintains that archetypal Swedish groove, but features some interesting melodies of the macabre and a grizzled vocal slur. Per Boder\u2019s vocals are very much of that miserable, crusty, gore-soaked Autopsy-style of snarl, and the percussion of Johan Rudberg gives the record a steely edge. This is especially the case on Rudberg\u2019s death march into the morbid splatter work of \u2018Join Them In Thralldom\u2019, which is far more effective as a slower, bile-filled plodder. <\/p>\n

Bj\u00f6rn Larsson is responsible for both the rumbling bass and that graven guitar sound, but despite the grotesque nature of, say, \u2018That Which Crawls\u2019 with its punky opening or the gloomy \u2018Bastion Of Blood\u2019, there is still that urge in me to dismiss the guitar sound and crave something less recognisable. <\/p>\n

With \u2018Bastion Of Blood\u2019 the band really does come into its own, the track choking like some filthy The Ravenous-styled blood-spattered masterpiece of slower, rustier guitars and that grey, plodding skeletal drum. \u2018Bastion Of Blood\u2019 leaves me craving similar terror but sadly the combo rarely resorts to such fog, instead returning to the usual Swedish black \u2019n\u2019 roll intensity with \u2018The Spawning (Born Of Rot\u2019). <\/p>\n

The surreal, eerie horror of the title track nonetheless does enough to add an air of the rank to proceedings, but for the most part \u2013 as showcased with the closing \u2018Sever The Limbs That Grace\u2019 \u2013 this is still very much formulaic Swedish death metal that hopefully through time will progress into something less ordinary and more macabre. I\u2019m willing to give these guys another chance.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MORDBRANDImago Deathgasm (2014)Rating: 6.5\/10 Autopsy\u2019s Eric Cutler on guest vocals!! Well, now there\u2019s a way to grab my attention. Mordbrand is a Swedish trio that plies their trade by playing grisly death metal. Imago is the debut full-length release from the band, and follows on from a batch of well-received EPs as well as a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,1314],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-mordbrand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20287"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20291,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20287\/revisions\/20291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}