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Mordicus > Dances from Left > Reviews
Mordicus - Dances from Left

Fast as a Swede, dark as a Finn, a gem that went dim - 100%

Aesirian, April 9th, 2023
Written based on this version: 2014, 2 vinyls, Svart Records (Limited edition, 2 colors)

Dances From Left by Mordicus is a testament to the band's skill and creativity, showcasing a technical and inventive approach to death metal. The album's overall sound is characterized by its unique combination of traditional death metal elements, progressive influences, and atmospheric textures. The production quality is exceptional, allowing for each instrument to stand out with clarity and balance.

The guitar work on this album is particularly impressive. The use of buzzsaw guitars, popularized by Swedish death metal bands, is effectively incorporated into Mordicus' sound, giving the album an extra layer of aggression and intensity, that mixed with the typical obscurity, brutality and atmospheric elements popularized by the death metal scene in Finland, Mordicus' home, makes this album one of the most perfect masterpieces this serves has listened to in his entire life. Additionally, the use of complex and melodic riffs adds a sense of intricacy and depth to the music, further enhancing its overall quality.

The drummer's use of skank beats throughout the album provides a solid foundation for the intricate guitar work. These rhythms, characterized by their upbeat tempo and syncopated accents, add to the album's overall atmosphere, providing a sense of urgency and intensity to the music. Blast beats might not be too present in the album, but these mesmerizing beats are perfectly placed where they should stand. Heikki Lappalainen has a majestic way to smash that drumset producing an overly beautiful sound, most notably in the snare, every hit, every note is placed perfectly to make a listener's ears feel a little ascension to the heavens.

Robert Arpo's vocal performance is equally impressive, showcasing a range of guttural screams and growls that perfectly complement the music. The lyrics, which touch on themes of existentialism and evil, are well-crafted and thought-provoking, adding another layer of depth to the album's overall sound. Arpo mains mid-to-high pitched growls, but he sure does where and how to go lower to add a touch of atmosphere to the album, making the listening a pretty immersive experience to most of the listeners that are gracious enough to have the pleasure to enjoy Dances From Left.

Standout tracks include "I Bleed to See," which features a driving rhythm and complex guitar work, and "Eternia," with its dynamic shifts in tempo and intensity and haunting atmospheric sections. Additionally, "Flames Beneath My Sleep," an acoustic instrumental piece, provides a welcome break from the intensity of the other tracks, showcasing the band's ability to create textured and atmospheric music. Other examples of great tracks, competent enough to be among the finest death metal works have to be songs such as "Blood Under Ice", "Unholy Wrath" that can come closer to a frontier where the melodic and groovy elements lay; "Cosmocrators Of Tartaros" and the track of closure, a song that's focused on being fast and honorably the fastest song from this masterpiece, "Christcide".

Overall, Dances From Left is a masterful album that showcases Mordicus' technical prowess and unique approach to death metal. Its combination of progressive and atmospheric influences, along with the band's technical skill, make it a standout album that will appeal to fans of death metal, progressive metal, and anyone interested in technically impressive and inventive music. How I regret not paying the attention this album deserved the first time I got to enjoy this album, eventually, it felt like this album came back to my life to beg me for another listen, one that did not disappoint me a single bit, one that filled me with joy from the time I pushed play to the time I said "oh man, it sure is true that all the good things must come to an end".

Finnish death metal, sounds Swedish. Still awesome! - 95%

NolanATL37, March 23rd, 2021
Written based on this version: 1993, CD, Thrash Records (Limited edition)

This album knocks it out of the park, it's classic, it's super underrated. This is Finnish death metal! Using sounds from Sweden and the incorporation of melodies much like that scene, but this is an entirely different beast. This album uses the awesome Swedish Boss HM-2 tone and it has fantastic riffs and solos. The most impressive part of this album to me is how unique it sounds for Finnish and Swedish death metal, even though it's heavily derived from both styles, it still manages to take ideas of both scenes and make something that stands out from the rest of the crowd. This album would definitely be in the classics conversation if it was released earlier, say like, 1991.

This album has fantastic production, and fantastic songs. I Bleed to See is a fantastic album opener, and one of the many songs with a fantastic solo. Another highlight early on is Eternia, a fantastic song, with a wondrous solo. The bass on this album is another thing that stands out, another aspect of this album that intrigues and interests me is the vocal style. Sometimes it's very brutal, leaning to, but not close enough to be called guttural, but sounds very inspired by guttural vocals. This also interesting because some parts of songs the singer transitions to a more black metal style of vocal delivery, which I really appreciate because of how it makes the music very diverse and varied. A huge example of trying to mix it up and succeeding greatly is my personal favorite track, "Cybernetic Summer" it starts out softly and evolves into a crushingly catchy riff that any Swedeath metal fan will adore.

This album gets a 95 in my book, it's has a lot of variety, great riffs, great melodies, great production, the vocals can be a bit lackluster, but it's not too much to be considered bad, just average. It's an interesting style, but not necessarily a good one. That knocks off a few points and brings this overlooked classic to a steady 93. All Swedish death metal and Finnish death metal fans alike, please listen to this, it will knock your socks off!

-Nolan

An Unusual Finnish Death Metal Experience - 86%

__Ziltoid__, July 5th, 2010

Released in 1993, Dances From Left is a monster of an album. Unlike, for example, Demigod’s dark and atmospheric Slumber Of Sullen Eyes, Dances From Left is much more riff-oriented. In fact, the riffs here are just flat out heavy. Of course, the guitars are played with “that tone,” which I previously discussed as being critical to the Finnish sound. But what is unusual about it this time around is that the bass is actually pretty audible on its own over the guitars. On most Finndeath albums, they sort of blend together to create a really deep sound, but such is not the case here, and Dances From Left actually benefits from that by having bass act as another interesting dimension in their music.

One thing I’ve always noticed about this album is how excellent the percussion is. The riffs here may be great, but without the appropriate percussion, their effect would be that much less significant. But the percussion here suits the riffs so well! Whether it’s the basic kick-snare pattern which is so often implemented in metal, or an intricate cymbal pattern, Mordicus gets it right every time. For example, on the first track, ‘I Bled To See’, notice from 2:54 onward how the percussion changes to suit what riff is being played. Throughout the whole album it mixes things up from simple to complex with ease, almost to the point where you don’t notice how well it’s being done unless you focus on it, since the riffs tend to take the spotlight.

Of note is that this is on the slow side for a death metal album. Since the riffs dominate so much, it makes sense not to be constantly blastbeating like crazy to distract from them. Take the song ‘Eternia’, for example. It’s definitely on the slow side, but the riffs make up for this lack of speed, constantly gripping the listener in, whether it may be due to their sheer catchy, simple-upon-first-listen nature, or due to their subtle intricacy and how they direct the songs. Of course, this lack of speed also lends to the album being on the more melodic side of things, and there are certainly moments where Mordicus take advantage of this. In fact, this album is quite melodic. Not melodic enough to be melodic death metal, but it has its share of seemingly catchy riffs with a Maiden-esque lead or two thrown over them (‘Cybernetic Summer’ and ‘A Thorn In Holy Flesh’ are probably the best examples of this).

‘Cybernetic Summer’ also happens to be my least favorite track on the album. Frankly, it just isn’t ballsy enough for death metal, or for this album. Luckily, Mordicus quickly makes up for this with the crushing ‘Unholy Wrath’. This is just excellent! The riffs are just so heavy here, and they all compliment each other so well. But the end of this song (from 4:37 on) epitomizes this whole album: heavy and catchy as hell. This is easily the best track on the album.

But when first listening to this album, I couldn’t help but wonder why it just doesn’t sound as evil or as dark as their contemporaries. One night, I finally realized that it’s because this album doesn’t rely on the ever-so common tremolo picked riffing style that most death metal bands implement. This style is often heard in conjunction with blast beats, and since those are so rare on this album, it makes sense that this would certainly sound different. Thus, when I hear something like the beginning of ‘Oceans’, I get a slight “what the fuck” thought, even though it’s one of the best songs on the album. Surely this is not the death metal that we’re all so accustomed to. It’s so riff-centric and relatively non-aggressive in terms of percussion (and by that, I mean that Mordicus rarely implement blast beats or double bass drumming techniques) that it defies the mold created by most death metal. But it’s that very characteristic that makes this album so good.

While it may be a bit melodic for some death metal purists, don’t let that steer you away from this great death metal album. It’s brings the riffs at full force, while also creating something relatively unique for its time and location.

Written for http://thenumberoftheblog.com/

Mordicus - Dances from left - 65%

Phuling, August 5th, 2008

This is a re-release of Mordicus’ “legendary” album from 1993. But I use the term “legendary” loosely since I’ve never heard of the band before. 1993 was before my time, I was only ten years old so I had a few years left of growing up before I discovered death metal. However the promo sheet claims it to be a legendary album, and Rock Hard apparently calls the record one of the best death metal albums ever, so I suppose the term will have to do.

I, on the other hand, will not be claiming Dances from the left to be one of the best albums ever. It’s not a bad album, but it’s too melodic for my taste. I suppose heavy metal is to blame for the overly melodic melodies and guitar solos. There’s tons of heavy metal mixed into the otherwise fairly pure old school death sound. Take a track like Cybernetic summer, which is instrumental and just reeks of melody. Ich… Oh well, I suppose it gives Mordicus a different edge than other Finnish old school acts. But there are other elements as well that’s not pure death; like for instance the intro to Oceans that at times holds sort of a jazzy feel, and sustains an electronic aura due to the weird scream sampling.

But let’s get down to business with what is death metal. The album holds quite a brutal guitar sound for its time, which carries a fairly powerful punch. The drumming is sort of what you’d expect from an old school album; not too fast but still very powerful, heavy hammering. The vocals are very guttural and gurgling, but actually lacking a lot in brutality. It sounds a bit too strained and forced. But the record definitely has its moments. Christcide is a real brutal piece, with a tad shriekier vocals that gives it a bit more schizoid feel. And I have to mention Flames beneath my sleep, which has a calm instrumental intro of acoustic guitars, flute and whatnot. A few other tracks has these brief moments of acoustic instrumentation as well, making Unanimated come to mind.

After the ten tracked Dances from the left is over the bonus tracks set in. And the bonus is made up of tunes from their old demos. Some sounding fairly the same as the previous ones. But what sets it apart is the dual vocals and a dose of brutality. Especially Exordium demorior kicks ass. There’s even a Carcass aura surrounding the later tracks, so these are even more brutal (and better). But all in all it’s not an album I’d pay for. It doesn’t matter how cool and old school gore the last three tracks are; the overly melodic main part of the album is just not worth it.

Originally written for http://www.mylastchapter.net

Completely Underrated - 97%

ArtOfWar, May 11th, 2004

Mordicus may hail from Finland, but this album is a page right out of the glory days of Swedish Death Metal. I had only seen one review of this before picking it up, and that reviewer had labeled this "Black Metal.' But believe me, this is as close to Black Metal as N'Sync. This is pure, firebreathing, explosive Death Metal of the highest magnitude. Mordicus is a band that was loaded with talent, and it shines through on the 10 tracks on this album. A few acoustic interludes here and there (especially in the instrumental track "Flames Beneath My Sleep') was enough for me to deduct a few points from this release. Make no mistake though, this album flat out smokes. Guitar solos run rampant throughout, and hook you with each catchy as hell riff. The vocals on this release are of the growl kind, but are so face melting and horrific, you will be running for cover when they kick in after certain somber moments. How this album never received a ton of recognition and praise is beyond me, as it blows away many of the copycat bands that rolled through the Death Metal scene in the early to mid 90's. Due to the fact that only 1500 copies of this album were printed, this one has become a major rarity. If you can find it from a dealer or trader, pick it up at all costs.