More of this! Melodeath with that genuine Swedish flare. Mordenial cast a dark and heavy aura over the land with their new album The Plague.
The Plague is the second album from Västerviks’ (Sweden) melodic death metallers Mordenial. Who having formed originally in 2000 have survived through several knock backs to bring this album and their 2015 debut to the table.
Technically brilliant and without any fluff this guitar orientated melodic death metal album may not have the emotional depth of the genres classics but Mordenial put in a tonne of effort to compensate adequately for it. While the riffs are skillfully engaged and the solos, and arpeggios, are perfectly executed the chord structures feel too familiar within the genre. Although this clearly states that it’s a Melodeath album it implies a kind of normalcy of the genre by fitting in but not standing out.
The Plague is a promising step forward for the band. Offering up a tasty ten tracks for diabolical parade. Where the level of heavy never drops below Grr. However this leaves many of the melodies as compliments rather than ornaments to the songs. It’s with those sentiments that The Plague can come across as superficial.
Even with the cookie cutter structure of the songs it’s still a really good album that will inspire a nod every now and then. Moreover it might not have an extensive emotional vocabulary and the aggression is somewhat muted by the melodies but it remains technically sound. Essentially it falls under the category of music for musics’ sake and suffers from trying to maintain a Melodeath status quo. Every now and then it can surprise you however but these licks are fleeting within a mass of forced brutality.
7/10
