Mortuous : "Upon Desolation"

 This San Jose based death metal band, plays off of 90s death metal. They have enough groove and atmosphere built into the opening track that it keeps my attention. It is very well produced . the low gurgle of the vocals sit nicely in the mix to create the illusion that the vocals serve more purpose than they do. With most extreme metal after the weight of the sheer heaviness hits you, you are left with the question, but can you write a song. "Nothing" does not provide the most clear cut answer to this. There is a great deal of chaos in their composition, which keeps them from being death doom, or merely another band trying to be Incantation. By the end of the song melodic elements have further crept in.

By the time we get to "Metemorphosis" the formula seems to be clear. Start off with brutal density and then allow those layers to slowly be shed as the song progresses into darkness. This time around when it gets time for a guitar solo, they have constructed a pretty hooky riff for it to fall upon. "Days of gray" falls more along the lines of conventional death metal and does not stick as rigidly to the formula they arrange their songs with though it is still there. I really enjoy when they indulge in mournful guitar melodies and feel it is a sea of blackness they need to sail further into. "Defiled by Fire" finds this also in play though the further into the album we get the more they begin to relish using speed rather than the more mid tempo crunch of the first half of the album. "Burning Still" picks up where the previous song left off , but grooves that theme a little more. 

Burning seems to be one of the album's main themes as "Ash and Decay"  continues to point out. The  gurgle of the guttural vocals do not allow for the lyrics to be easily deciphered.It is only two and a half minutes into the last song when more melodic elements seep in. I will give this album an 8.5, I appreciate how they stray from what is expected from their brand of death metal and how they work in the creepy melodic guitar parts.