In precision channel of the ancient cult at its most serious capacity for deranged devotees the unholy ritual displayed by San José, Costa Rica-based death metal trio MORTUAL persists within its brief yet decisive stabbing at the heart of the old ways. Within this diabolic gathering they’ve set out in expansion of the thread introduced by their most recent EP, managing a brutal yet thrashing ‘old school’ death metal full-length which reflects the feral brutality of the sub-genre’s peak era. Though ‘Altar of Brutality‘ is a relatively quick-shot debut its concise, all-killer attack and undying focus upon the riff balances out some of the odd decisions made with regard to their overall presentation.

Mortual have been around since 2015 but as I’d suggested in review of the band’s second EP (‘Evil Incarnation‘, 2023) most of their releases modified or swapped out folks from their core line-up and each sounds a bit different or approaches a different shard of classics-inspired death metal. On that back in late 2023 it’d seemed they’d found a feral and thrashing ‘old school’ death metal ideal that they could lean fully into, a sound which had both classic early 90’s Florida death metal (Monstrosity, Malevolent Creation) standards applied with appreciation for wrathful death-thrashing ‘Altars of Madness‘-stoked sounds (Mortem, Masacre) beyond. It’d been a lasting favorite per its ancient sound as a somewhat chaotic and blasting release that resembled the step from the 80’s into the 90’s per the brutal hurl of its drumming. While that fiery ex-thrasher built edge is mostly intact today the focus of ‘Altar of Brutality‘ is more relevant to a general early 90’s death metal standard, something like ‘Imperial Doom‘ (or even ‘Retribution‘) which is yet cognizant of its late 80’s extreme thrash rooting.

The focus of ‘Altar of Brutality‘ is squarely upon the riff as the core duo of Justin Corpse and Juan Salas (both also of the brilliant Necroferum) return to do the heavy lifting while new drummer Chalo of thrash metal band Chemicide more than delivers the right sound and attack to suit their circa 1991 era take on ripping death. Mortual have been so successful in hitting that golden standard for riff-after-riff built mania that it becomes hard to select any one particular piece over another as a standout, the whole thing smokes save the short outro which cuts in and ends the record around ~35 minutes in. Opener “Mortuary Rites” arguably best exemplifies the thrash infused aplomb of the trio’s attack as well as the classics-tuned kit work in full action but this is only just the mouth of the cave as they go on tunneling after the next hundred riffs for the duration of the album. The drop into a crawl right at the two minute mark gives the guitarists a moment to breathe while the turn taken smacks of a record like ‘Screams of Anguish‘ as it briefly rolls past and I think this song brings that Floridian death temperament most readily among the first few pieces on the album.

“Necromancy Ritual” is potentially more in line with what expectations I’d had in mind beyond ‘Evil Incarnation‘ with an early Morbid Angel twisted main verse riff and wrathful, uglier grooves which are set beside simpler twisted riff progressions in frequent speed-metallic escalation. While the first few songs here set a certain standard to be expected and arrive at a similar blitzed pace the differentiation should sink in as the first listen settles in mind. Where the riffs really start to crack open the skulls of the ancients struck me around the psychotic dance of “Dominion of Eternal Blasphemy” and its familiar tensioned main riff beside the trotting and blasting step that hits around ~2:25 minutes in. I don’t know if that moment is all that original in any sense but what Mortual do there they’ve done across the span on this debut LP in terms of reaching for a primal idealization of ‘old school’ death metal and punched at it without hesitation or any sort of interruption. The wall to wall cull of the full listen should become apparent as you hit the mid-point.

One of my favorite songs on ‘Altar of Brutality‘ should be somewhat familiar as I’d had the privilege of premiering it in late June, suggesting that “[“Skeletal Vortex”] pours gasoline on the fire as an explosive act on the second half of the album.” where the point to be made is that they manage to break through the numbing riff-salad that similar records often generate by slowing down to grind out some dive-bombing leads, varying their approach slightly to keep the ideas behind their momentum pushing. “Skeletal Vortex” basically holds the bar up on the way out with a thread of riffcraft that is only just slightly more technical in its arrange yet the title track does just as well to compound some of the more percussive and tightly structured movements found on “Diving Monstrosity” and “Dominion of Eternal Blasphemy” earlier. It is an abrupt end beyond that point and it wouldn’t have hurt to bring back something akin to the slower portion of the opener to help tie off the stump but I didn’t take any serious issue with cutting it there and rolling it back to the start; Overall I’d found ‘Altar of Brutality‘ extremely repeatable despite some of its more overly familiar grooves and louder-expressed points of inspiration, the full listen rang in ear as a volatile act in its own right and always within the parameters of the sincerely feral tradition of death metal.

While I respect all of the hands and brains that went into this recording alongside the skillful curation that went into this release the decision to go with Marcelo Almeida, who deals in AI generated images, for the cover art is questionable. The result is well below standard as the image used for ‘Altar of Brutality‘ reads comically stiff in its overall composition with its strangely hairy bodily forms standing void of any actual subject or movement of interest amidst a disproportionately large, tall and empty “altar”, or, portal? This image defaces the experience and I cannot knowingly evaluate an AI generated image with the same criteria used for handcrafted artwork. The artwork is a zero in terms of the overall review score, but I didn’t allow that to reflect poorly on the quality of the sound design within my truncated rating system.

As was the case with Rotten Tomb‘s debut a few years ago the production values applied to an album, particularly a unique or stylized capture of the drum kit, goes a long way toward lasting distinction and ‘Altar of Brutality‘ stands out for its spacious, crisp yet kinda auld-compressed presence. Mixing and mastering from Dan Lowndes @ Resonance Sound Studio always arrives at a highest standard with consideration for the band in question and this proves a huge strength for Mortual‘s debut where we trade the rawed crack of their previous EP for something fittingly huge yet Morrisound-esque. The focus on militant, run-on riff chunking guitar tones and their frayed ends still leaves equal room for unearthly roars and tub-slapping hits when the chance for dynamic movement to occur within the onslaught. It is the ideal container for their rhythm-obsessed action at any rate.

The whole of this latest Mortual experience reads as authentically diabolic, spawned from an appreciation of a certain era of death metal, where the high-standard of classic death metal forms achieved is consistently the major draw. Though the sound and cracked energy of ‘Altar of Brutality‘ was what’d pinged my brains towards its innards my appreciation for the trio’s maniac stringing of riffs was the major reason to stick around. Though I’ve some smaller gripes with this record it nonetheless pings in mind as one of the better pure, riff-driven death metal records in recent memory. A very high recommendation.

---