Corpus Mortale
A New Species of Deviant
Neurotic
Dance with death metal in my dreams
The title is somewhat misleading. Sure, the songs cite a serial killer or two (a death metal-only lyric: “buttocks severely bitten”), and this Danish outfit has a guitarist named Roar who plays in a band called Crapulence, but overall, this is blue-chip, no-frills death metal. Spawned in 1993, Corpus Mortale have old school reference points: Morbid Angel tremolo picking, Deicide vocal patterns, Obituary foot-dragging, Bolt Thrower heaviness, later-Vader melody. But since death metal hasn’t yet made it into the 21st century (save for detours into hyper-technicality and “ultra-brutality”), A New Species of Deviant doesn’t feel like a museum piece. In fact, Aeon’s recent Rise to Dominate feels quite similar—a conservative yet catchy blend of speed, heaviness and melody.
Such balance is the band’s forte. Half-speed passages with kick drums helicoptering underneath? Corpus Mortale love them. In fact, they’re practically the album’s corpus vivendi (sketchy Latin be damned). But just when the band seems to be an athletic Obituary, they bust out the blazing blast beats of “Cold Earth,” then turn around and drop thrash beats on your head. That’s called dynamics, kids, and this record’s full of them. “Sustained Depressed Fractures” pits bulldozing chugging against sharp, palm-muted runs; “Dehumanized” sends such runs skyward like undead hands clawing through soil; “Devoid in Compassion” liberally applies dissonance like a dead skin mud mask. The band has a knack for tucking melody into the folds of beefy riffs. They may say nothing new, but at least they speak eloquently. —Cosmo Lee
