Amputator

Russia's Mortem are not too well known in a lot of metal circles, even in brutal death metal; or at least that's how I tend to feel about them. The four-piece (at the time) dropped their debut full-length record, Amputator, in 1993, and it's chock full of some classic brutal death fun and slime.

The immediate comparison that came to my mind when I first heard this record was Cannibal Corpse's early material, namely Butchered at Birth and Tomb of the Mutilated, as the riffs are a mix between unhinged, fast runs and slow, brooding chugs. Hell, the first minute or so of "Addiction to Sexual Slaughter" screams "Meat Hook Sodomy" with the strangeness of the riffs and the almost-out-of-control drumming. The chug element is a lot more prevalent on Amputator than any of those Cannibal Corpse records, however, with a little bit of hardcore influence, but not something overbearing like what would be found with a band like Internal Bleeding. I like to think of this as the truly proper way to do Cannibal Corpse worship - take notes, Infestment.

Speaking of hardcore, sometimes the music feels a little punky in parts, which usually comes from the somewhat punk-influenced drumming that appears on most songs, like on the beginning of "Decomposing Cavader" or on the title track, for example. Aside from this, this album is still rather straightforward Buffalo-styled brutal death, especially with the faster sections which also feature some really weird riffs akin to those aforementioned CC albums.

One of my favorite parts of the record, aside from the stellar music, is the production, and how disgusting it is - in a good way, obviously. Brutal death metal generally tends to work best when the production associated with the music is steaming hot garbage. The instruments all get their respective space and utilize it well. The drums sound somewhat like Butchered at Birth, especially that snare, which I love. The guitars don't sound super shrill, but the distortion and tone are both very tasteful, and it allows the smooth tone of the bass to shine through just great. Probably the most Cannibal-esque thing about this band, besides how insanely similar the guitar playing and drums are, would have to be those vocals - I mean, damn! Singers such as Frank Mullen and Chris Barnes were already experimenting with how low they could go vocally, but Vitaly Glushko sounds leagues different - and much lower and less intelligible. This allows the vocals to act very much like an instrument and lets the other instruments shine, which is a staple of how brutal death metal should sound.

Mortem's Amputator is a damn fine LP, and features some really top-notch brutal death metal, especially for 1993 standards when the genre was still fairly new. As such, the influences of the band are still very much present, and it almost makes it hard to discern the difference between them and say, Cannibal Corpse. This, coupled with a sub-30 minute run time, prevent Amputator from scoring a perfect 100, which I wanted to give this so badly. But no matter; this album is a great aggression-releaser of an LP for anyone who likes that classic brutal death sound.

Top picks: "Decomposing Cadaver", "Exhumer", "Addiction to Sexual Slaughter"