Chaos closes in all around as all men are transformed into red-sighted vores, sowing contempt as pincer-snapping and mewling putre-factories of all they’d hollow into greying mush per an insatiable, infectious hungered state. Bordeaux, France-based death metal quintet MORTUAIRE are the onlookers, the loudest witness to the emptying of life and limb from the scorched earth they’d inhabit in craft of doom-incensed death metal per this riveting, hard-tanking debut full-length album. ‘Monde Vide‘ is not a full-on chasmic rendition of death/doom metal tradition taken to wildest extent so much as an act of great reverence and appreciation for the auld ways, keeping it bold-faced and mid-paced in sight of our bleak future-doom state. They’ve made a remarkable first impression via this well built debut, already sporting a somewhat idiosyncratic sound and balls-heavy style which they’re undoubtedly capable of expanding upon in the future.

Mortuaire formed circa 2021 by way of folks who’re best known per their station the abstract sludge and drone headspace of Year of No Light and (now defunct) Monarch none of which necessarily relates to the ‘old school’ death and death/doom metal which’d inspired this album. I can only assume the band formed during those peaking pandemic years as an outlet on the side yet their material was serious as a T14 Armata at your doorstep with their debut EP (‘Mortuaire‘, 2021) a doomed reflection of Bolt Thrower‘s mid 90’s roar, sinister guitar melodies and a rare example of the Boss HM-2 tone tempered into a real weapon and not a misfiring hand-shredder. The main point of interest on those initial recordings were the severe, doom-steeped atmosphere of their work despite the obvious classic nodes of inspiration feeding their work. This carries through to the full-length, an evolved vision of their sound which sticks to ‘old school’ tenets but extends the impact of each song into deeper doom-riffed abysm and switches things up in the vocal department more often.

Though there was nothing tentative about Mortuiare‘s introductory EP they’ve spent some serious time considering and crafting their own expanse in response to that first step, ensuring ‘Monde Vide‘ isn’t flippant in its craft or careless in its curation. From the grotesquely scratched out and self-devouring Ian Miller-esque cover artwork (via Thösz) to the clambering, percussive hammer of their mid-paced descent (via opener “Mauvais présage”) the first impression is one of a death metal band commanding the room after barreling through the door with a riff that almost immediately warms to a modern standard ah via ‘VIth Crusade‘ where the band suggest the harshness of earliest Corrupted and the classics a la ‘Mental Funeral‘ add to their sound. The hardcorish rumble of the opener and its eventual doomed spasm toward the end is pocked with interesting harmonic fills, huge-swinging grooves, and thrashing breaks to the point that the experience of the band and the knack of the composer(s) recognizes that simple death metal is a righteous thing but deceptively simple death metal with a tuneful flow and a ton of muscle in the riff is what the good shit is built from. Around ~2:20 minutes into the opener we get the first clean-shouted exasperation on the record, feeding a grinding-’til-thrashing blitz beyond and I emphasize this moment (and the minute that follows) as a quick and dirty spread of what they’ll spend most of ‘Monde Vide‘ exploring.

The opener is a nail in the skull but not likely to leave as lasting an impression as the bigger doom-entrenched swagger of the rest of the album. There is a very fine line between beefing up a staggered double-bass kick matched riff (re: early Desecresy) and sounding kinda like later 90’s Bolt Thrower and extending that moment to the point of sounding like (early) Bølzer at three quarters speed and when the shouted-but-clean vocals finally hit on “Pyramide d’Or” the prime vortex of ‘Monde Vide‘ truly strikes the temple per my own experience. Much of this finer detail, and I assume much of the lead guitar work comes from guitarist Stéphane Miollan (Endless Floods) who did some engineering (the majority recorded by Thibault Laisney @ A/B Box Studio) as well as the mix on the album and seems to be an important component of this final product. Ten minutes in, two songs down and I’m impressed with Mortuaire‘s sound and the already varietal yet imposing vocals (via Heddy Omer of OTDHR) but we’ve only just approached the true agony and ecstasy of this album and where it convinces as a new extreme, a diabolic step beyond familiar modernization of nostalgic ideas.

“Monde Vide” is the deeper chasm to fall within, the long drop into the dark and the point where death-doom metal heads will begin to crane their necks in flapping approval as the nearly ~10 minute title track doles out a slow-burning gravity bomb of a mid-album lurch. For all the praise I’d heap on this moment both the guitar arrangement (eh, riffcraft) and the impact of it are fairly simple, leaning into some of their sludge-attuned brainwaves for some guitar feedback hits and tunneling grooves which bring some livening thunder to the endpoint of the song. Keeping in mind these are folks entrenched in far more experimental and extreme work there is both some great respect for the strictures which define ‘old school’ death metal rhythms in Mortuaire‘s step but also clear and present capability which surpasses that inherent simplicity. This is more evident in the two longform pieces (incl. closer “Octogone de fer”) as each represents a trip which is linear in some sense but attacked at all angles, at least in the sense that it is a rare feat to make the dumbest, bluntest riff hit with conviction that is far removed from the usual “templated” feeling of referential throwback-minded death metal acts.

The third act, single “Tranchant” and the aforementioned closer (“Octogone de fer”) are reinforcements, a battery of slow slugged shellfire and screaming feedback which spell doom wherever they rain down. If there is a most engaged, hottest spot of activity and connection to be found on this album it is in the crust heavy roll-out and ‘Seasons in the Abyss‘ sway of the latter piece, not necessarily the biggest nuke in terms of riffs but a real show, a ride and a set of movements that writhe with an impressive creative flow, once again covering many bases a la the opener.

The full listen offered by ‘Monde Vide‘ does an incredible job of avoiding unthinking riff salad while still quick-turning between nodes of Mortuaire‘s greater oeuvre where a broad variety of interests already begins to show. Despite not offering choruses, lead melodies or riffs meant to stick in mind the band’s work remains entertaining at every turn for my own taste. So, there is a trade-off here in the sense that the heavy-as-shit, well curated sounds on offer here aren’t particularly infectious beyond their style and action, the result is still well above-average. I’ve found it memorable enough, a great addition to nowadays polished death metal idealism which has both the potential and capability to find deeper distinction and sensationalism in its doomed atmospheric venture. A high recommendation.

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