Review by Carl on October 11, 2026.

The way I see it, the contemporary old-school death metal scene is kinda like a huge dung heap you need to pick the golden coins out of. There's a big steaming pile of it, and it keeps coming- just more and more of it, with no end in sight for the foreseeable future. But if you don't mind putting in the time and effort to dig into said dung heap, rest assured that treasure will come your way eventually. And the treasure in this case goes by the name of Mortual.

What is there to say? This fucking slays; that's what there is to say! Mortual takes you by the hand and guides you through those almost legendary days in the late 80s and early 90s when death metal was crawling out of the deepest depths of the metal underground to cause quite some pungent odours. The band has taken their cues from the originators, and on this release used those influences to mould a small collection of ripping death metal tracks, paying tribute to those forces of old, with an eye looking firmly through a contemporary lens.

What Mortual does is take the riffs and speed of the early albums of bands like Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, Immolation and Monstrosity, and fuse them together with the slower, more downtempo sounds as found on albums such as Morbid Angel's "Blessed Are The Sick" and the debut Incantation album. The riffing is razor-sharp, executed with malicious precision and intent, while being spurred on by an energetic and solid percussive performance by Ramses Mora. Throughout, there are dive-bomb solos in that typical Floridian style, while the band goes from blasting malice to crushing, doomed-out crawl without losing focus on the tracks themselves. Held together by a gruff, cavernous vocal delivery that evokes the spirit of Disma/former Incantation vocalist Craig Pillard, as well as a clear yet not overdone production job, the band delivers a most solid offering of brutish death metal. The energy level is held high, execution is spot-on, and above all, the tracks are memorable for sure, effortlessly combining aggression with technical ability to great effect.

Yes, I'll admit that this is a band that is wearing their influences on their sleeves, but they do it with pride and conviction. Mortual is a band that does not blindly ape what their forebears have done, but take their example and run with it, hopefully to go on to claim their place among the leaders of the pack.

This is how real death metal is supposed to be done in my book. Mortual combines energy, precision, and especially aggression into pummeling bursts of power, while avoiding any unnecessary hoopla and redundant vagueness, making this a most riveting EP, for sure.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10