Mortiis – The Great Deceiver

There is little else to say about the spellbinding new release from Norwegian industrial outfit, Mortiis than you need this in your life. From start to finish, this one packs a serious, experimental and groovy punch that should please all ears, especially those of the fans of the pointy eared genius.

The first album since the band broke their hiatus officially last October; with this release marking both “Era 0” and their first album since 2010’s Perfectly Defect. Quite frankly, as a relative new comer to the music of Mortiis outside of his stuff with Emperor, I was hooked from the moment I popped on “The Great Deceiver”.

Fans of industrial music like Rob Zombie, PAIN and even Marilyn Manson will be very much at home here too. As Mortiis’ mixes pumping rock drums and guitar with stellar vocals all packaged with an undercurrent of electronic beats, programming and samples. It’s dark, up tempo and extremely catchy.

“The Great Leap” opens the album up; and it sure does set the table for what the listener can expect throughout: catchy syncopated voices tied with similar rhythms from the guitars, heavy electronica and soaring but grim vocals. Killer way to start an album!

“Feed the Greed” and “The Shining Lamp of God” are tracks that play with your sense of sense of anticipation; as both slowly build and build into something that is so Rob Zombie like that you can’t help but love them. When the vocals come in you can hear that it is very like tracks within this genre but Mortiis has his own style and it shines through here. They are highlights on the album, if you want pumping metal club songs.

“The Ugly Truth” is another track that has a nice fast pace to it; more straight metal than anything else but that is certainly not a bad thing at all. “Scalding the Burnt” too follows a similar structure as it plays with metal elements but uses heavy synch and programming to lighten things up and give it more life, all the while infusing it with a dark, cyber punk feel.

Amongst these tracks there are more atmospheric breaks like “Road to Ruin”. This one sounds like a middle era Burzum track until the vocals kicks in and then all of a sudden you have a pumping industrial track. The experimental elements on this record alone make it a joy; the fact it all works so well is excellent.

Finally, “Doppelganger” as the song that band put out with a video, I guess we should talk about it. It’s a good track, not at all my favourite that would any of the above. However, it’s a fun catchy and more metallic track than “Road to Ruin” or “Sins of Mine”.

I loved this and I can’t recommend it enough. However, if you don’t like this stuff you may not enjoy it as much. That said, I believe that from Mortiis’ approach on this record, there is something here for everyone. So for fans, it’s a buy! For non-fans, it’s worth your time. This is a masterwork!

Mortiis “The Great Deceiver” is out now on Napalm Records and is on tour of the UK later this month.

Current Line – Up

Mortiis (Håvard Ellefsen) – lead vocals, programming

Levi Gawron (Levi Gawrock Trøite) – lead guitar, programming, bass

Tracklist:
1.The Great Leap
2.The Ugly Truth
3.Doppelganger
4.Demons Are Back
5.Hard to Believe
6.Bleed like You
7.Road to Ruin
8.Scalding the Burnt
9.The Shining Lamp of God
10.Sins of Mine
11.Feed the Greed
12. Too Little Too Late