Introduction: after a very long time of abyssal emptiness and silentium, Muert finally come back with a fourth full-length album; the first new studio release after 2017’s Ye Canariae Abezan (released via the mighty and quite ‘old’ Dutch Extreme Metal label Hammerheart Records). The album gets baptised as Haeresis and is pressed in an edition of five-hundred copies on compact-disc, which do include a sixteen-page booklet and impressive artwork by, of course, WrathDesign (working very closely together with the label involved, i.e. Belgium’s finest Immortal Frost Productions). I have no idea whether a vinyl edition will follow…
Objective info: the whole consists of eight titles in the project’s native tongue, i.e. Spanish (the project hails from the sunny – or in this case: volcanic! – Canary Islands), and has a total running time of thirty-seven minutes. Everything was mixed and mastered once more at the famous Moontower Studio by no one else but Javier Feléz. Soldiers in duty on this recording are still Mister Ebola, responsible for the song-writing and for the execution of strings and chants, and his partner-in-crime from Cryfemal (also on the very same label, by the way), Guayota on drums.
Subjective info: my personal thoughts on this newest Muert release. And in my opinion, these guys do overwhelm as from the very first moment. It all starts with Metal-¡Enajenatión!, a truly barbarian and monolithic piece of filth, blasphemy, rawness and disgust. It’s a merciless attack of Blackened Punk and apocalyptic Blackcore (yes, this does exist as from now on!), fast and furious, thunderous, blasting, uncompromising. Fast melodies (believe me if I say that there are hints of ‘melody’ represented) are brutally raped by malign ant drum-salvos and blistering percussion-attacks, a low-tuned yet strongly supportive rhythm-string-section, and toxic, acid screams-from-Hell, sometimes evolving into bestially-growling and necrotic grunts from beyond purgatory (like in that pain-inducing doom-lullaby Axantemir).
Conclusion: What Muert bring gets further than Punk-laden Necro-Black Metal. They do penetrate this effort with aspects from related genres like Blackened Thrash Metal – the old-styled elegance, evidently –, Morbid Doom and sleazy Metal-of-Death, the most rancid side of the First Wave Black Metal trend, a minimalistic and nihilistic approach of universal and sludgy OSDM, you know… Hysteria and post-catatonic dismal get translated into warlike and frenzy sonic chaos, yet of a structured and well-balanced kind. Unfortunately the sound sucks. I never mind some unpolished roughness (at all), but with exception of the mix (strings, throats and percussion interplay in fine-tuned equilibrium), the production does not give the result needed. Therefor, the whole sounds way too primal and inferior. Yet then again, the unconventional and intolerant attitude deserves a certain level of vile and abject vulgarity, isn’t it. You’ll hatefully love it for sure, or you will love hating this sh*t. Full-volume audio-terror!
https://www.facebook.com/muert666
https://digital.immortalfrostproductions.com/album/haeresis
https://www.concreteweb.be/reviews/cryfemal