Madder Mortem

Madder Mortem are like a low-riding bulldozer driving forward with a stuttering groove, their momentum fuelled by a relentless soul-piercing banshee wail. Lest that sound like a complaint, let me assure you, it’s the kind of siren-like onslaught that will have you leaping straight into the bulldozer’s path. Desiderata isn’t utterly unforgiving; it has its breather passages, but even these are not relaxing. They merely wind up the tension to get you ready for more. This is an album of eloquent contradictions, captured most convincingly in a seamless clash of thrash power and church choir celestials in "Plague on this Land,” but carried through the entire tumultuous and glorious production.