MORTAL FORM – Taste The Blood

Mortal Form can easily be lined up with the giants of Death Metal from the Netherlands, like Pestilence, Asphyx and Sinister. With their new release, Taste The Blood , they had gone a long way and if they stay on their current course – it’s only glory for them. Mortal Form are returning the listener to the classical times of Death Metal along with a few hints of other sub-genres.

Mortal Form started to wage war in 1999 in Arnhem, Gelderland. After releasing two demos between 1999-2000, they recorded their first album by themselves, Evil Reborn. A year later, along with three other bands (Non-Divine, Morgana-X and Thornar) , Mortal Form were part of a split album, which was a presentation of Arnhem’s Metal Power, Arnhem Trolleymetaal, under the Seven Kingdoms label. And now, after 6 years of silence, they return for another treat for you to taste, Taste The Blood.

The band’s style in its general form is Old School Death Metal with several hints of Thrash Metal – both sub-genres are accounted for with themes of war, injustice, Death etc. Although the guys are doing it old style hammering, you can clearly see modern elements which can be found in Hardcore or Metalcore. But aside from the new stuff there are some minor riffs and great solos that were spawned out of the 80s / early 90s of Thrash and even Heavy Metal.

In addition, like many bands in their sub-genre, there is the “Death” factor – a strong influence by the late American Death Metal act. You can’t see Mortal Form as a technical Death Metal band, but they have various areas where you can hear some groovy, yet Prog parts like in the amazing heavy hitter, “The Uprising” , which is a great song about the ancient and powerful Roman legions. This one along with another strong kicker, “Construction Of Deconstruction”, have their techy moments and they are well performed. “Guts In The Gutter” , “Besiege” and “Screwed” are more rough Death Metal crushers with heavy and dirty riffs but with cool melodies and great solo breaks by the guitarists ,Teun and Vincent Wassink. “Guts In The Gutter” is, you can say, the catchiest tune on the album. The chorus is just great, there aren’t many catchy Death Metal numbers. “Blasphemer” has brought the thought that is another cover work for Sodom’s classic, but it turned out to be an original one. Generally, the song is ok , but not a thriller. Also tagging along as weak spots are “King Of Gauls” , “Taste The Blood” and “Territorial”.

Overall, the production is great, absolutely a wonderful piece of work by Nico Van Montfort. This guy supplied Mortal Form with the power they need to make this Deathly experience for the listener. Yet, this production is very similar to other Death Metal acts worldwide. However, as was mentioned earlier, Mortal Form is doing it according to the old ways so they can grab more credit. The power of the album, naturally , comes from the great depthy sound of the guitars, bass cover and the full sound of the drum set – Mortal Form had it all in Taste The Blood.

Mortal Form is on their way to glory if they can keep up their act. The Metal world needs Death Metal bands who want to relive the late 80s , where Death Metal was still in diapers. Diapers, maybe, but it was more brutal and Thrashy that is for sure. Way to go , Mortal Form!!