Missa Mortvm is one of those bands who definitely deserve better. Hailing from Santiago, Chile, this band comes up with five lengthy songs, loaded with black metal and influenced by all kinds of extreme music. In a way it's even hard to make out if they are a traditional black metal band or one of the now popular post-black metal acts. In Missa Mortvm's music, there's both, along with some death and doom. Beyond all categorising, fact remains that this is a massive wall-of-sound, and quite a brilliant one too.
The album opens with 'Cantos Profanos', which starts out as a dark ambient track and quickly evolves into a blast beat loaded blackened vehicle of noise and screams. However, and that's Missa Mortvm's strongest aspect, they add plenty of variation, both in tempo and vocal range. The music is dynamic, intense and comes with a lot of energy, just the way I like it. 'Oh Bene Subtritus', even delves a bit into the whole black 'n' roll scene, which again is pretty damn awesome. And the other three songs? Well, they're just as massive and stunning as the previous ones.
Of all the Satanath releases I've reviewed so far, I think this is one of my favorites. It definitely is one of my favorite black metal albums this year. Well-varied, intense, bleak, heavy and energetic. I'm quite sure that this stuff will make up for some stunning live performances, so I can only hope that these guys will one day come over to Europe and show some of the bands here how it's done...
Serge