Mortualia are one of the many projects Finnish guy Shatraug is involved with. He’s especially known from bands like Horna, Sargeist, Behexen, Morbid Savouring, Black Stench or Blutschrei, but that’s just a part of a long list. Mortualia might not be his best known project, but for sure it is an interesting one; what else would you expect?...
Anyway, with Mortualia, Shatraug released two full lengths before, one project-album (with Swiss act Nychts), and two splits (a 7”EP and a full CD). About the full lengths: the first one (simply called Mortualia) was originally released in 2007 and re-released in 2011 via Moribund (the review is still available in the Archive-section of this label), the second one (Blood Of The Hermit) was released via Australia’s Dark Adversary Productions on April 6th 2010, and gets re-released by, once again, mighty Moribund. That’s what this review will deal with.
Blood Of The Hermit consists of five tracks that last in between ten and twelve minutes, and it goes totally on in the very same spirit Shatraug had in mind when creating this solo-outfit. It’s an expression of desolate, mournful, funereal, lamented, suffocating feelings, once again dwelling in the dimension that mingles Funeral Doom and Suicidal / Atmospheric Black Metal. Every creation is slow, very slow, and repetitive in its execution, with emotive, burzumesque melodies, tortured, almost self-torturing and slightly hysterical screams, and a gloomy sound. The production isn’t that fine-tuned, and there might be too little variety, and these two elements are truly sad. But that’s all I have to add when it comes to negativity (just joking, for ‘negativity’ is the keyword right here – oh glorious negativity of Human Life…); I mean, in comparison to the debut, Blood Of The Hermit is (much) more impressive and convincing. Especially Pain At Least… is very convincing with its hammering riffs and mesmerizing melody.
For fans of: early Burzum, Nyktalgia, Scaphandre, Austere or Judas Iscariot.