From Hate Incarnated

After seeing them live, I decided I had to give their new album a listen. There are certain changes from the demos to this, for an example, they have removed 'Anal' from the song title "Choked In Anal Soil". And "Prime Murder Suspect" used to be called "PMS(Prime Murder Suspect)", which had a lot more humour to it. "Weapons of Assdestruction" is now just "Weapons".
I asked them what these changes were for, and they answered it was because the titles were looked at as jokes. I guess SM decided to get a little more serious and leave the humorous inputs behind. Or maybe it is to avoid distraction, I remember when they played live, a person from the audience randomly yelled out "Weapons of AssDestruction!!" and actually made the lead singer laugh.

But they have still managed to keep the sound, showing that the awesomeness of the danish death metal scene has just begun. Forget Illdisposed, this is what you need.
A part of the awesomeness is the fact they sound original for a band that started in 2003. Most of modern death metal bands ripp of either Bolt Thrower or Cannibal Corpse, but no, these guys have certainly managed to create something original, and at the same time good.

This whole new wave of danish death metal looks quite promising. Just look at bands such as Corpus Mortale, Thorium and Hideous Invasion just to mention a few, but nevertheless Spectral Mortuary ranks above all of these. The catchieness of the guitars is overwhelming, evil raw vocals, a bass to keep the hatred of the sound, and powerfull drumming.
I wouldn't mind that the sound was a bit rawer, since it's pretty fancy for a death metal band. I guess they just want the best for their fans, but the rawness donates a lot to the album's atmosphere. That's the only real complain I can come up with. For anyone who hunger after some original and worthwhile death metal, this is definitly a must have.

The album cover is quite morbid. If you look closely, that is. First look, you will probably just notice the two skulls. Zooming in though, there's more to it than that. It seems kind of slayer inspired, just less abstract. Could have been a bit more gory considering their lyrics are, but it's no biggie.

For the end, it has one of the most fitting outros I've ever heard. Melodic, but not overdone melodic. Being just an instrumental, this is certainly to make quite an atmospheric ending to the album, which they definitly suceed at.

To find a new band that offers something a little bit different is becoming harder and harder nowadays with so many bands ripping off the classic death metal style paved by such bands as Morbid Angel, Cannibal Corpse, Immolation, Suffocation etc. However, once in a great while one can come across a band that offers something different or just strikes a chord with you and for me one of these rare gems are the Danish death metalers Spectral Mortuary.

I heard some great things about these guys in fact, another review suggested that bands such as Nile, Deicide, and Cannibal Corpse should take notice! Wow was that review ever on the money! Spectral Mortuary surely pay homage to their oldschool death metal forefathers where some parts of this album sound like the classic early 90s style of Floridan death metal ala Deicide's Legion album. While the very next minute sounding like newer death metal bands like Aborted and Skinless ala From Sacrifice to Survival. What really struck me about Spectral Mortuary however is that they have found a great way to blend the true death metal vocal style and the crushing riffs and blistering drumming with something that is rarely found in a great death metal record lately, groove.

This album should certainly appeal to both new death metal fans and those who have been a fan of the genre since it's hay day. If you like homage to oldschool death metal with an elment of groove these guys will certianly be worth checking out. Stand out tracks include "Necrotic Flesh Cravings" The title track "From Hate Incarnated" and my personal favourite "Autophagist" I swear I have had that riff in my head for the past few days, you'll know the one I'm refering to when you hear the song.

What else is really neat about this album is that it has the perfect closing track. A heavy melody infused instrumental called Concluding Carnage. A perfect way to both end the record and tell the listener what they should expect. This album is truly full of carnage groove laidened carnage!