Thanks to our wonderful editor Mark, yesterday we got to find out what’s going on with Mortiis. Not that any of us cared, really. Besides the fact that frontman lost his goblin mask and the record label, it seems they’ve been busy releasing music for free via internet. Also, nowadays they look like they’ve spent an awful lot of time hanging out with Chilean miners.
Anyway, I was bored, it was free, and I decided to listen to it. Read on to find out if my experiment will be worth it, or will it be the musical equivalent of catching crabs.
Mortiis – Perfectly Defect
Before I even start the review, I’ll remind you that the album is free for download (in a variety of formats), so feel free to check it out yourself. Just note that unless you’re in any way into industrial, it will most likely be a waste of your bandwidth. If you are, continue reading and consider downloading.
01. Closer to the End: Does a template for a Nine Inch Nails song exist? Mortiis might have stolen one, because this one doesn’t sound too far away from something off of Fragile. Vocals do sound like something closer to Marilyn Manson. Not a bad song, but nothing terribly exciting either.
02. Perectly Defect: Another track that follows a similar path. This one features synth-y guitar parts, and at moments it feels there are too much of them. But again, not a bad song. It finishes with a “by numbers” industrial guitar solo.
03. Sensation of Guilt: Finally, something that breaks out of the pattern. This song almost goes to synth pop territory, most evidently by keyboard parts that don’t sound too far away from modern-day Depeche Mode (especially evident during the bridge, where keyboards, combined with acoustic guitars work quite well for the song). Mortiis, with distorted vocals is asking why his son came for him. Probably to take you to apologize to Peter Jackson for stealing his props. The end features another typical industrial guitar solo.
04. Sole Defeat: Some would describe this instrumental track as “painting a soundscape” (hint: anyone who ever says that and stays serious is a douschebag), some would call it five and a half minutes of industrial noise. Take the side you prefer, but the objective flaw is that all the pieces it’s made of aren’t really pasted together that well. All in all, sounds like the perfect background music to a goth kid putting foundation.
05. Thieving Bastards: Oh look, another instrumental track. This one sounds like the background music to a goth kid practicing his club dance moves. This one goes way more into electronic territory, almost sounding like something off of a Prodigy album.
06. Halo of Arms: Another instrumental track. What the fuck. This time the goth kid seems to be fighting a liquid metal robot who was sent from the future to destroy him, with the help of another, somewhat older model robot who was sent to save him.
07. Impossible to Believe: …that there is another instrumental track on this album. But there is. This is the background music to goth kid fixing his make up after fighting that robot from the previous song.
08. The Absolution: Wouldn’t it be awesome that, after four instrumental tracks, the album ends with another? No? Fuck no. But guess what? That happens. Kind of. There are some spoken words near the end. Since I’m running out of goth kid scenarios, I’ll just say that this is not really the best way to close the album, but it does represent it in a good way.
Before I rate the album, I’ll be fair, I have no idea what the past discography sounds like, and whether or not they focus on vocal or instrumental tracks, so I’ll let that one slide this time. Also, I’ll point out again that the album is free, so it’s not like you’re really loosing your money or time on Rapidshare. As a somewhat Nine Inch Nails fan (there, I said it), I can say I enjoyed this as much as their last (and free) album, The Slip (not very much, but enough). In fact, at moments this reminded me more of the older NIN sound, than the past few album those guys have put out.
Final verdict: All in all, a descent industrial effort. We’d deduct a few point for not being quite original, and for having too many instrumental tracks, but then again, it’s free. My only bigger complaint is that this is released as an album. Reducing a track or two and putting it out as a free EP would have been more effective. If you’re into bands like Nine Inch Nails, Skinny Puppy, Marilyn Manson, Orgy, Prodigy, download this. If you’re into metal, don’t even come close.
