MORTIFICATION - SCRIBE OF THE PENTATEUCH

Steve Rowe and Mortification have released another slab of molten metallic mayhem that glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ. This current offering is a six song affair entitled Scribe of the Pentateuch; the Pentateuch is the first five books of the Old Testament.

Scribe is the first completely fan funded release for Mortification, an indication of where the industry is moving in relation to Compact Disc releases. It costs money and the current label system is just not able to fund this process as it has in days gone by.

The tracks on Scribe of the Pentateuch by and large are a mix of death and thrash metal, with a few twinges of grind thrown if for good measure. Album opener Extradiefor is pure death/grind and really packs the punch. Lincoln Bowens guitar plows along with mounds of attack but it’s the thunderous bass of Steve Rowe that bowls you over and locks tightly with drummer Andrew Esnouf.

The title track switches between thrash and death metal which oozes powerful up and down chugging. Bowen adds an abundance of guitar accents that shine through the bombast which highlight the melody, yes there is melody albeit buried inside the musical carnage. This track as well as In Garland Hall feature some clean vocals by Steve Rowe, understand that there is only certain parts of these songs that have clean vocals the rest is pure growling goodness.

The Jaws of Life was a track that received quite a bit of hoopla in prerelease of a rather negative variety, well to these ears that is track is probably the weakest one! The structure left me a little flat, but by no means is it a throw away. Weapons of Mass Salvation slows things down quite a bit, with its slightly doomy feel, but never fear things don’t stay there for very long. Tempo changes very which definitely keep things engaged some more clean vocal elements here as well.

Something I must address is the complaint I’ve read about the drum sound. I’ve read the statement that claims “it sounds like a drum machine.” I suppose if you’re listening this on crummy computer speakers in a crushed MP3 it would sound a bit thin. Listening to the CD on my car stereo or using my AKG headphones the drum sound is solid and strong. Comments based on a YouTube clip are premature and should be ignored.

The production on the whole is well done as I’ve come to expect from Mortification. Perhaps the only thing I might’ve done different is to push the guitar louder in the overall mix, balls out rhythm guitar is so face melting.

The CD also includes four extra tracks entitled “The Best of the 00’s” the tracks include Priests of the Underground, Too Much Pain, Erasing the Goblin and Elasticized Outrage. Each of these is tracks from Relentless, Brain Cleaner, Erasing the Goblin and The Evil Addiction Killing Machine. Undoubtedly to give more exposure to those albums, these tracks were lifted from those albums directly without anything else done to them.

Nay sayers beware this disc is the real deal and if it’s not your cup of tea, then simply ignore it as many of us are tired of reading the anti Mort diatribes.

One will be reminded of past glories on this release and rightfully so. Scribe of the Pentateuch is a full on metal assault that should more than rally the faithful, but break down more barriers and remind the world of the juggernaut that is Mortification. I don't give this endorsement lightly.

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