MORD

INCANTATION got the apocalypse train barreling down the tracks, the goal to "Decimate Christendom". Now Norway's MORD (Norwegian for "murder") finishes the job with "Christendom Perished". Now that's teamwork!

In case you hadn't guessed from that rather MAYHEM-like logo, "Christendom Perished" is unabated, in-your-face black metal. Though raw and abrasive, the delivery is more 1349 than DARKTHRONE. Additionally, the riffs are chunkier and the rhythm section more pummeling than the primal, basement recording style of some of its more "out there" brethren. One could talk of a death metal strain in the music of MORD, but to my ears it is black metal through and through. It just happens to have a heavier, IMMORTAL brutality to it.

Anyway, "Christendom Perished" does not necessarily distinguish itself from the rest of the black metal horde, based on a patented style or an experimental edge heard from any number of esoteric black metal acts, but MORD is damn good at this face-melting, body-bruising style. To be perfectly honest, the 1349 comparison came mostly from the first track, as the twisted and hefty riff and a machine-gunning drumming style that is reminiscent of Frost (1349, SATYRICON) on "Opus I" (there are eight "opuses") came blaring out the speakers. The difference is the distortion factor is not as high, and like the rest of the album, the songwriting is not quite as accomplished (especially compared to "Hellfire").

But enough with the 1349 thing. The eight tracks on "Christendom Perished" succeed largely because the rage is convincing and the band does a fairly good job of keeping every track from sounding just like the one before it. Though largely up-tempo and ragged, there are changes in tempo. The little things like a reoccurring buzz-saw effect (by itself, and what sounds like a vocal effect on "Opus III") and other frightful nuggets add just a bit of personality. In a blackened nutshell, "Christendom Perished" is a solid album that should satisfy most fans of the stouter end of black metal.