Mortuary Drape : "Black Mirror"

 With a legacy that dates back to the 80s, they are not far removed from Mercyful Fate when it comes to the first wave of black metal in terms of their sound. Despite forming in the 80s this is only the Italian band's 6th full length. Their last full-length "Spiritual Independence" carried more of a death metal sound. While they are not blast-beating the night away here, things have more of a black metal feel here. "Ritual Unction" is the first really straightforward song, it uses taunt riffing to get the point across, with some sections that have a more aggressive momentum. Riding that space between genres that Dissection did. There is plenty of head-banging groove in a manner not unlike King Diamond's solo work though the vocals stay in snarling croak. 

"Drowned in Silence" finds the vocals taking a lower more death metal-like growl.  The riffs are hooky enough with the kind of thrash tendencies this sort of thing was born out of. The guitar solos work well with what they are doing and not a shred fest. After the clean guitar opens "Into Oblivion" to create the calm before the storm, hurtling into something that recalls 80s speed metal.  It measures up with that sound and is well executed. However, it does sound like every other band doing thrash, since it lacks the horror soundtrack atmosphere this band has built its identity around. There is more of the theatrics for "Rattle Breath" The title alone sounds like it should be on a Megadeth album. I like the oddly sung sections as they give this its own personality, making it one of my favorite songs so far. 

"Nocturnal Coven" has some great guitar playing, but really does little to set itself apart from the pack. "Mistress Sorceress" is more effective at blending the thrash sound of this album with the darker moods that are this band's strength.  "The Unburied" finds them back to the status quo of thrashing black metal, though the bass is very present in the mix to give more of a rumble. I really like the darkness they bring with the energy of "Fading Flowers Spell". The more melodic title track provides a pretty fitting way to end the album. I will give this album a 9, it's a shift from what I think of them as doing, but with that said every album is different so I appreciate the refinement and the excellent production value they brought this time, if a larger metal audience was going to be introduced to these guys this would be the album to do it.It drops November 3rd on Peaceville.