Have you ever sat around and wondered to yourself, or outwardly to friends, what it would be like if Finnish Doom Metal band Reverend Bizarre decided to incorporate some colder, more raw edged riffs and change their vocal style to the painful and anguished shrieks that permeate many of Black Metals finer bands? I have! And now thanks to a solo project out of Kråkstad in Southern Norway that goes by the name of Lord Mortvm, I finally have answers! ‘Dead Christ Baptism’, his sophomoric album offering which has deservedly been unleashed on both CD and LP by Helter Skelter Productions packs within its eight tracks all of the darkness, angst, desolation and depravity of Black Metal and fuses it sublimely to the deep groove, down tuned riff-age and satisfying bass tones of old school Doom Metal. I find it quite hard not to be excited, and in truth a little aroused, by this concoction!
This is no novelty act either. I love the technical nature of the slower guitar leads, and the precise handling of the methodical drum tones. The bass tones drip from your speakers with precise groove and the vocals range between crawling anger and serpentine slithering, whilst being set further down in the mix for that shouts from the bleak abyss feel. My favourite track has to be the lengthy and expansive ‘Eternal Gates’ which epitomises all of the above traits but above all just sounds cool as fuck and makes you want to bask in all of its down tuned bass heavy glory! A far more mature and focussed opus than his debut, and with much more variance around the vocals and instrumentation. Highly recommended!
