(written by Islander)
When you hear the name Bordeaux the first thing that will probably pop into your mind is world-class wine, and perhaps physical beauty both natural and man-made if you’ve ever been there. If anything else jumps to mind, it’s probably not death metal — though that will change after you listen to Monde Vide, the debut album from Bordeaux-based Mortuaire.
This group is fairly new, with only a 2022 EP in their discography so far, but its lineup includes musicians from well-known bands, among them Year of No Light, Bombardement, The Great Old Ones, Monarch!, and Faucheuse. Their debut album is now set for release on March 7th by World Eater Records, and what we have for you today is the premiere of the album’s title song.
The press materials for Monde Vide promise “world-eating and sometimes-stomping tank-grooves,” a “subtle infusion of doom [that] makes these mountains of miasmic darkness seem even larger than they already are,” and a punishing production that aids in creating “total DREAD and DEATH in 3D.”
You may also see references to the influence of such iconic bands as Bolt Thrower, Autopsy, Finland’s Demigod, and Corrupted. But here’s what you’ll find (at least as we hear it) in the album’s nearly 10-minute title track:
It seems to go in phases. Phase 1 begins with a ravenous discharge of frenetic drumming and wildly writhing tremolo’d chords coated in sonic filth, the kind of thing geared to punching listener’s pulse rates.
But the real meat of Phase 1 (spoiled meat, to be sure) is a suddenly decelerated and even more decimating doom-crawl made from grotesque and gargantuan riffs that vibrate in a way that sounds diseased, decapitating drum blows, ragged malignant roars, and wretched cries. As the music slowly and very heavily stomps and sickeningly gouges its way forward, the lead guitars dismally wail and whine.
Phase 2 marks the return of the swarm — a dense, malicious, and writhing whir of corroded riffage — but the music again slows and heaves, spiked by guitars that create the dismal peals of mutated sirens and the mewling notes of grieving victims. Yet the pace slows even more, and the mood becomes even more ruthlessly scoured of hope — so slow that the procession eventually stops and only ear-piercing feedback remains.
Phase 3 begins with an enormous and thoroughly rusted bass clanging and clawing. The monstrous roars then return, along with morbid, earthquaking chords, tortured cries, and viciously churning riffage, like a frothing cesspool of awful bodily fluids and things that greedily feed on them.
Hideous and horrible, noxious and malevolent, monstrously crushing and afflicted with anguish, the song displays a confidant mastery of the influences named above. And it proves to be just as effective at sinking hearts as it is at pulverizing and creating visions of horror, not just a crusher and a ravager but an engine of dreadful atmosphere.
MORTUAIRE:
Vocals: Heddy Omer
Drums and percussion: Benjamin Sablon
Bass: Xavier Godart
Electric guitar: Shiran Kaidine
Electric guitar: Stéphane Miollan
Monde Vide includes five songs with a total runtime of 36 minutes It was recorded by Thibault Laisney at A/B Box Studio, with additional recordings by Stéphane Miollan at LocalOfWar. The album was mixed by Stéphane Miollan, mastered by Ben Jones, and features logo and design by Luc Ardilouze.
You’ll find pre-order links below, as well as a stream of the album’s first single, “Tranchant“.
PRE-ORDER:
https://www.worldeater.fr/mortuaire-monde-vide-lp
https://worldeaterrecords.bandcamp.com/album/monde-vide-lp-2
MORTUAIRE:
https://mortuairebdx.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/mortuairebdx
https://www.facebook.com/mortuairebdx
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