ninehertz

I have had a relatively fallow year when it comes to death metal. But then in early October, as I’m due to attend Vacuous, Blood Incantation and Gorgon Vomit gigs within the month, this promo arrives, with the trusty Caligari Records stamp of approval, and kickstarts what may well be a very death-infused winter.

Moral Implant are from Poland, and Delusion is a wonderful little album of six tracks, two given over to an Intro and an Outro in classic death metal tape demo style. The four songs proper are like a descent to hell, increasingly more demented the further it travels.

Neglect has an old school death metal feel to begin, but then the sheer layers of drums and guitars become so overwhelmingly destructive that it morphs into something else, death metal as chaos. Demiurge is slightly odd and angular – enough to give it an exciting edge that keeps you on your toes, but not so much as to be obtusely discordant.

That is to come. Zero Believer reminds me a little of Altarage, a barrelling wave delivering a shudder in the notes that hits hard. And then there’s Obsecrate, with a definite Portal influence in its pulsations, blackened vocals adding to that warped time headfuck all around. By the end it’s almost so rabid it veers towards Legion of Andromeda’s madness, particularly in the barking vocals near its conclusion.

This is a captivating listen – I haven’t heard death metal as good as this, in this style, for some time. My death metal winter has begun.