Rough Edge: Mortiis CD Reviews

MORTIIS

"Some Kind of Heroin: The Grudge Remixes" (Earache Records; 2007)

Reviewed by Mike SOS

The ever-morphing Mortiis switches gears again on the 16-track "Some Kind of Heroin," trading in black metal malaise for electronic Goth rock worthy for the PVC crowd to get their groove on to.

The tracks, remixes of original songs by Mortiis as interpreted by peers and friends, stray far from his metallic past and focus instead on material from the dance and ambient music period, so buyer beware: you'd better be in the mood to keep up with the throbbing bass and electronic buzzes which adorn cuts like "The Grudge."

For more information, check out: http://www.mortiis.com.

"The Smell of Rain" (Earache Records; 2001)

Reviewed by Alicia Downs

"The Smell of Rain" is the end result of an artist's purging of his emotions into musical form. That artist is Mortiis, a dramatic composer who packages and manipulates all personifications into a partnership with the musical premise. For "The Smell of Rain," Mortiis battles out his desolation through a cunning assemblage of musical interpretations. That desolation furthers with the album's focal imagery set in the backdrop of the Death Valley amongst the solitude of his Scandinavian troll guise - an image that speaks and moves with the same poignancy of his emotional embattlements played out via dark electronica.

"The Smell of Rain" finds Mortiis experimenting past his traditional mask of bleak electronic orchestras and haunting choirs. Of note was Mortiis' decision to perform the vocals thus increasing the whirlwind effect of an emotional magnum opus.

Sounds on "The Smell of Rain" range throughout, beginning with the industrially heavy techno/rock familiar to KMFDM as seen in opening track "Scar Trek / Parasite God."

Further playing off of the industrial aggressions is track "Antimental" that lends itself to NIN comparisons with Mortiis' assaulting vocals howling "fist fuck" - an adage Reznor epitomized into a life of its own. However, Mortiis, throughout the album, manages to supersede even Reznor's passionate vocal displays of pain and anguish.

Tracks such as "You Put a Hex on Me" divulge into the Euro-Pop electro-synth mastered through the likes of Depeche Mode. The Euro-gluttony climaxes in closing track "Smell the Witch" whose chorus is reminiscent of New Order's "Blue Monday."

"The Smell of Rain" is a potent album that tickles the desires of any fan of industrial electronica.

Mortiis is: None other than Mortiis.

For more information on "The Smell of Rain" and the artist behind it check out: http://www.mortiis.com.

Rating Guide:

A classic. This record will kick your ass.

Killer. Not a classic but it will rock your world.

So-so. You've heard better.

Pretty bad. Might make a nice coaster.

Self explanatory. Just the sight of the cover makes you wanna hurl.

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