Meuchelmord – Mordmelodien
3 min read
Band: Meuchelmord
Title: Mordmelodien
Label: Purity Through Fire
Release date: 28 February 2021
Country: Germany
Format reviewed: High-quality Digital Recording
This caught my ears straight away, taking me to that sweet spot of metal music enjoyment where there are no extra noises, all disappear, and the music fills your mind with solace. Yes, I’m speaking of Meuchelmord‘s newest album “Mordmelodien” which must be heard if you haven’t already checked it. Also, it’s my much loved black metal sounds, but also some variations of it that make timely arrivals and plateaus to enjoy and really get a sense of what this album is bringing to the table. In my mind also, is that this is a good album, definitely one you play if you are needing music to speak to you. If you haven’t heard anything from Meuchelmord then it’s my pleasure to introduce you, and hopefully, you find enjoyment in this most excellent offering of German black metal.
Cernunnos is the person behind Meuchelmord, beginning the band in 2011 with a demo entitled “Menschliche Abgrunde” and first full length album in 2012, called “Wo einst gezeichnet von Wurde dein Bild”. The following years between 2013 to now, saw the releases of one EP, two Splits (shared albums), and six more full-length albums. Themes for these albums ranged from depression, pain, misanthropy, death, nature, and personal experiences. To me, these all feed and flavor Meuchelmord in the many album releases.
The first track, “Der Tod naht”, intro, starts in a recording of a choir, the harmonies and blending of voices. Not far into it guitar riffing explodes, and the vocal grabs you. That growled scream. THAT. Drums are strong, a force of energies, playing to the speed riffs and vocal. The pace is fast, yet you don’t feel that is so rushed that you miss anything.
Track two, “Waffenweihe” and track three “Schwarzes Ehrenfeld” sound as a continuation, a beginning and middle if you will. These two tracks didn’t differentiate much to my ears, even so, a solid display of instruments and vocals.
Track four, “Treibjagd” slow, the doomy feeling here accentuated by defined riffs, also much slower paced. I like the contrastive slowing of tone and speed. Track five, “In Ketten” true to the quintessential sound of black metal riffs and drums. As well, the back note in this is a rhythm that jumps in, out, between, and supporting the instruments. Very well achieved and adds a little more flavor to this track.
Track six, “Dem Ross zur Wehr” was a solid track, again I note the musicianship and vocal as being the point for me, not so much the track itself. Track seven “Alter Geist”, oh my the vocals. His voice is that guttural, grave tone, that I just love. That style. When he opens up his lung capacity, even more, the vocals are where I lose myself. So good.
Track eight, “Monument”…*headbanging* to this slow, doom extension. Sad, brutal notes in the riffs, definitely more depressive sounding. As a final track to this album, it’s “Ad Mortem’s – Totenkult” cover. Beautiful riffing, chills from me, how good this sounds to my ears. Power speed drums, oh yes, this is done well. Yes, this whole track, wow.
I will add, that Meuchelmord did make my ears happy as a whole. There were some points in some of the very repetitious tracks here and there that didn’t stand out as memorable to me. Having said that, I’m going to also say that the variety of pace, killer vocals, and stand-up musicianship did stand out to me. As I said again, if your mood is for music to speak to your mood, then this album will do that. 7.5/10 Metal Marie
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