MORTAL SIN - Psychology of Death

This album is absolutely relentless! From the opening note until the end, this CD will tear you apart.

Mortal Sin has never released such a fast and heavy album. Psychology Of Death isn’t a very long album but I don’t think you could take much more than the forty two minutes of the albums duration, or else it would kill you!The production is top notch, very clear and full of body and feel. The album also has a very even mix which lends itself well to the music and the speed of the CD, it would have been quite easy to lose a lot of the dynamics of the songs with a muddy production and sound.

The album opens with the title track “Psychology of Death” and in many aspects – riffing, vocal melody and speed it could actually be a Slayer song. It is very intense, sharp and tight. “Blood of my Enemies” really highlights just how good Luke Cook has become as a drummer: a great intro! The vocal melody and delivery is copy book Mortal Sin and thrash metal in general, except for the amazing fast sections.

“Paralysed By Fear” is balanced really well, with both high speed and mid-tempo sections. Listen to the lead work on the track, very impressive. The band have become ridiculously tight from their heavy touring schedule and this is something reflected throughout the whole album. “Burned Into Your Soul” is another song with both high speed and mid-tempo sections and it also has very melodic lead work and very melodic riffing in sections. This to me is one of the strongest tracks on the album.

Lyrically the album, as with the previous release- An Absence Of Faith- are absolutely scathing of the subjects at hand and Mat Maurer does not hold back on his delivery. Listening back over the two Mortal Sin albums from the 80’s Mat’s vocals have really just gotten better and better. He is singing with a lot more melody as well as conviction and the music really benefits from this. You definitely could not call him a one dimensional vocalist. The other song that I really want to mention is “Down In The Pit” . This is a real thrash anthem both in its sound and lyrics. The lyrics- from the title- don’t need any explanation, but the music really takes you back to the late 80’s and is very reminiscent of D.R.I. or Laaz Rockit. The band may have had issues finding this stable line-up but none of that is obvious on the album as everyone gels, especially the interchange between Nathan Shea and Ryan Huthmance(guitars), the two lead guitarists. Nathan actually contributed the bulk of the material for the album as well as at least half of the leads. He has become a really accomplished guitarist and has given stability for MORTAL SIN when it has been most required.

This is a very strong album and exactly where Mortal Sin needs to be on the back of their last release An Absence of Faith. Mortal Sin fans will love this album and I think that it is going to put them in a promising position to expand further into both the European and US markets. It will be very interesting in a year’s time to see just how the sales figures of this album actually go. Well done Mortal Sin, bring on the DESTRUCTION tour so we can hear some of these songs live.

Psychology Of Death was released through Riot on September 23 2011 and is available in stores! For an interview with Andy Eftichiou head over here.

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