Arson Cafe: Mortals - Cursed to See the Future (2014)

Monday, July 21, 2014

Mortals - Cursed to See the Future (2014)

Album | Cursed to See the Future
Country | United States
Genre | Sludge / Crust / Black Metal
Label | Relapse Records

Coming from New York, the all-female trio Mortals release their second full length record Cursed to See the Future under the Aegis of Relapse Records, which is also the first release of the band through a certain label (all their previous records were self-released). One can't say Relapse hasn't proven itself exemplary these years and here is another valuable newcomer band they found and promoted, as this record fuses the unconventional parts of sludge and black metal naturally and perfectly as they are.

The tracks of the record range from four to nine and a half minutes and clock up to fourty seven minutes in total, making Cursed to See the Future the longest and most important release of the band so far. The production here is very clean and pleasant, giving the distorted guitars and the vocals a bit higher attention into a direct and full sound. The album carries a unique essence when it comes to it's content, flowing perfectly as it progresses and constantly offering divergent moments as well as memorable parts.

Mortals grew from a metal / punk outfit to sludge / hardcore and now something like blackened sludge and their earlier steps still have a spot in their music. There are plenty of hardcore and sludge elements in Cursed to See the Future, mainly in the prolific and distinct riffs of the tracks that are aimed to bulldoze the listener with their heaviness, as one of the finest characteristics of the record. The guitars sculpt the characteristic sound of the record and the switching of lines is so natural as if it was meant to be, a truly remarkable effort compiled of a bunch of amazing riffs, not a poor one included.

The turn towards black metal is also apparent in the album, unfolding during it's very first moments in the opening track “View from the Tower”, which also serves as a first taste of the devastation the album causes. There are sparse moments and sparse riffs inside the various guitar melodies, while “Series of Decay” is a composition strongly into the black metal temperament. Mortals have a gift in creating solid compositions the same way as the all powerful Darkthrone and that's what makes this record so easy listening and organic.

Apart from the guitars, another amazing point of the record is the screams of the vocalist, high pitched screams moving between black metal and crust, they are accurate and legit through the whole album. Mortals did a great job with Cursed to See the Future, which has elements of various genres very well mixed together.

DAMAGE: [8.5/10]

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Reckoning

From all the hills came screams. A piece of sky beside the crescent sun was detaching. It was a loosened circle of evening sky, suddenly lighted from the back. It was an abrupt black body out of nowhere; it was a flat disk; it was almost over the sun. That is when there were screams. At once this disk of sky slid over the sun like a lid. The sky snapped over the sun like a lens cover. The hatch in the brain slammed. Abruptly it was dark night, on the land and in the sky. In the night sky was a tiny ring of light. The hole where the sun belongs is very small. A thin ring of light marked its place. There was no sound. The eyes dried, the arteries drained, the lungs hushed. There was no world. We were the world’s dead people rotating and orbiting around and around, embedded in the planet’s crust, while the earth rolled down. Our minds were light-years distant, forgetful of almost everything.