FAST RITES: because sometimes brevity is fundamental.
I have no clue how many times a year I type the phrase “…doesn’t really do anything new,” but I guaran-gatdang-tee it’s equaled by the amount of times I’ve immediately followed it with “…nor does it need to.”
Heavy metal’s regressive impulses are as vital to its duration as is its penchant for exploring new worlds, and Olympia, Washington’s Mortiferum is here to drag your filthy bones into a burning tar pit that’s brimming with the deteriorating carcasses of Deathdoomosauruses that once roamed the earth in the year of our Lord 1992/93.
Altar of Decay is the perfect buddy for any sort of meatheaded adventure that could (and should) include putridity from the likes of Phrenelith, Tomb Mold, Undergang, Fetid, Contaminated (AUS) et al, but these particular troglodytes throw in an extra pinch of very early Amorphis to beautify the edges. The result: a raw, rotting 23-minute demo that comes across like the auditory equivalent of a beater garbage truck filled to capacity with sloshing putrefaction slamming head-on with Privilege of Evil/The Karelian Isthmus. Hello and welcome to your loathsome, charming death, friends.
The gang’s all here: lethargic, bowel-shuddering death/doom; pulverizing bursts of violence; brief flashes of surprising beauty; and bells—those beautiful, beautiful bells knelling your graceful, leisurely plunge into inescapable collapse.
Don’t forget to pack an extra grave cloth for those chilly nights.
Digital release date: June 30th, 2017
Label: Independent
Cassette release date: June 30th, 2017
Label: Graceless Recordings
LP release date: TBA
Label: Profound Lore
CD release date: March 23rd, 2018
Label: Blood Harvest
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killer. and “altar of decay” is the absolute perfect title for this album, worshiping and nurturing the rank deathdoom as it does.