Emortualis - Biological

Italy’s Emortualis hails all the way back to 1989, yet after two decades of hiatus coming to a close in 2014, the band’s studio debut has come in the form of this EP, only to be followed by another tragic career barricade with the passing of their new bassist and vocalist, M. The EP plays like a band with immense fire and frustration who have wanted to make death metal for so long and finally got the time to make it happen, with rough but fittingly raw production (which features the use of an open, St. Anger-esque snare) to emphasize the wildness of the album. While certainly homogeneous, the album is a quick and visceral injection of early death metal attitude into the latter half of the year for death metal. I don’t know what M’s passing means for the already-battered Emortualis, I imagine the prognosis isn’t great, but if the attitude shown on this album is indeed reflective of their drive to create music with this project even after 21 years, I would believe in their ability to carry on, however far down the road that may be.

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