Mortician
Hacked Up For Barbecue
[Relapse]


Brutal death metal has never been quite me thing - blastbeats and "Cookie Monster" vocals have just never been my cup of tea, but for some odd reason, I'm actually finding myself enjoying Mortician (in a juvenile sort of way). Ok - so this isn't musical brain surgery, and if it wasn't for the fact that Will Rahmer and company were so dedicated to this sort of thing, Mortician could easily be passed off as a parody - but the sincerity of the band (well placed or not) saves the day and ends up producing a pretty damn entertaining album. I'm sure everyone out there is already familiar with the Mortician formula : start the song with a short dialog sample from some horror film or other (easily my favorite parts of this CD), blast for about half of the song , inject a slower Celtic Frost "morbid" riff in there, continue with blast and end song - again, not musical brain surgery...but for some reason it works with Mortician where it fails for others. Perhaps it because they don't try to get too self indulgent with nonsense such as "technicality" or "variety", or perhaps they just write better riffs than most others who play in this genre. Whatever the case, Mortician have found their niche, and mankind be damned if they're going to break from it. They're the AC/DC of brutal death metal - it either works for you, or it doesn't...


© 2000 chorazaim