I am sure everyone has a list of bands, no doubt a good ten or so that they think “I should have heard this lot, I need to and will no doubt like them but they have always escaped me.” Perhaps it’s not the sort of thing you would really admit in public either, loss of scene points and all that but no doubt if you are reading this you are nodding in agreement. The purpose of saying this is that one such band for me are cult Italians Mortuary Drape. I had never checked them out before Peaceville sent this reissue of this their third full length album originally released in 2000 on Avantgarde Music. I did have a real dilemma when they played in the UK for the first time recently and did not make the gig, partly due to the aforementioned lack of song knowledge and it was with real trepidation that I played this at first wondering if I was going to rue the day because I missed seeing them.
Before we get to the songs themselves though there are some intriguing notes about the “essential lyric key” and the method used for composition of the material, the tuning of which gives the album its title; the vibratory power of it and interlinked numeracy and the necromantic concept of it all. Yes well it went over my head a bit too but I was never one to consider that this lot led by founding member Wilderness Perversion do not practice what they preach. Looking into their history more all I can say is what a lot of band members they have had go through their doors since they started out in 1986!
Was this like the first track title going to be a ‘Dreadful Discovery’ for me? Well the cadaverous croaking of the eccentric vocals quickly pile into what sounds like a thick, fast and furious deluge of blackened thrash. To my untrained ears there’s more than a splash of Absu about this no doubt in both music and ideology. It’s catchy, snappy stuff and the rasping vocals are suitably blood curdling. The production suits well, it sounds like it could have been recorded in the cave of the cover, tones behind the instruments are not suffering major over production but are nice and clearly defined, backing vocals by Roaming Soul and Left-Hand Preacher add to the intrigue. Keyboards very occasionally give an eerie feel to things but are really only there to add a little rather than being overused and pompous but it is the bass tones that one is drawn to in line with their placement in the mix; there are two bassists and two guitarists. I found ‘Vertical’ a particularly interesting track as the melody could be straight out of Argento’s ‘Profondo Rosso’ complete with whispered vocals giving it a psychedelic nursery rhyme feel before the bestial barks of ‘Not Still Born’ bite in. When the songs really fly off as on the likes of Laylah, which gallops away with some head cleaving and cracking pace they really allow some good head banging action. Having said that it is never too far away from the next dark and strange part as the song limbers off down stygian corridors with odd timings adding to the twists and turns. ‘Winged Priestess’ has me scratching my head again adding some odd harmonic backing ‘lalala’ folk like croons into things. There’s a touch of reverential classic doom about them too and the prog laden guitar work is confounding. This certainly keeps you on your toes.
It’s a bamboozling first album to get to grips with but I suspect their others are equally confounding. Leading up to end number ‘Lantern’ I am still not completely illuminated but have enjoyed what I have heard and feel like I have trodden on the first step to higher learning of the band’s craft.
More help is on hand as Peaceville have also gathered some additional tracks here which are re-recorded from ‘Doom Return’ demos recorded at the same time as this album. ‘Pentagram’ sounds like crust punk as it starts out with a flurry of guitars and adds yet another dimension to the bands ever volatile sound. These songs are perhaps not quite so obtuse but still have a certain feeling of non-linear strangeness about them as they project an arcane and morbid fervour about things.
The band’s 2004 and latest studio album Buried In Time is apparently due to follow in a month or so and my crash course can hopefully continue.
(7/10 Pete Woods)
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