Mortem Agmen – From Profane Realms [EP]

From the band’s very first step, the ‘Where Life Ends Forever’-demo from April 2023 the German Black Metal band Mortem Agmen has been able to capture my attention. Although the band’s logo might remind you of something you’d see on a Black Metal demo tape from around the turn of the century – all home crafted using MS Paint, the music on offer is much more professional. With the release of ‘The Path To The Abyss Of Evil’, the band’s debut full-length album from eleven months ago, Mortem Agmen has proven to be able to take a significant step up from their already very solid first demo. And they pulled that same trick again with this new digital 2-track EP.

While the musical foundation of the band remains completely the same, the band stays religiously to their game plan, the progression heard on this EP is to be found in its even more solid song writing. With a strong spirit rooted in the mid- to late 90’s Black Metal they sound melodic and powerful, with pulsating riffs and a splendid vocal delivery that gives the music an even more profound feeling of 90’s Melodic Black Metal. Mortem Agmen shows that melodicism is not a despicable word in combination with Black Metal, just like the more melodic work of Satanic Warmaster, which feels rather close in terms of sound and spirit, is as far away from the clownery that those late 90’s are remembered for.

It also shows that you can pull off some great melody- and atmosphere-driven Black Metal without using keyboards. No extra bells nor whistles, just the basics of guitars, bass, drums and vocals. It’s just all in the song writing: a strong riff and memorable melody is really all what it takes. And Mortem Agmen ticks all the right boxes and culminates those individual elements into a stunning and downright magnificent piece of powerful and triumphant Black Metal.