Sonus Mortis – War Prophecy

This album actually saw the light of day a few months ago now but having only heard it for the first time recently I thought I would put a few words down anyway

Firstly, and this is purely an observation but there does seem to be a lot of ‘one man projects’ around these days, maybe it has just been the luck of the draw as far as the albums I’ve chosen recently, or maybe it is a growing trend. I guess the big plus point about going it totally alone is the total control over artistic content and direction, and of course, the costs can be kept at a manageable level as well. Anyway, enough about all that, let’s find out what this album has to offer

Sonus Mortis is the creation of Kevin Byrne, previously with Irish Death Metal band Valediction, and War Prophecy represents the second full length release since the project started in 2013. The album has definitely held on to the Death Metal vibe but has expanded it greatly by adding elements of Symphonic and Doom, all very cleverly woven around the core sound. The album is quite traditional in the way that it starts relatively slowly but constantly builds in terms of power and atmosphere but there is so much more to discover, listening to tracks like ‘The Rise Of The Obsidian Destroyer’ for example you begin to get a grasp of the scale of the malevolent grandiose created here, with string sections in the background, thunderous drums and razor sharp guitar work, all the boxes are well and truly ticked. ‘Memento Mori’, although painfully short in my opinion as it is one of my favourite tracks on the album, shows a different level of pace and feeling, Kevin Byrne’s vocal on this track in particular, just throws out feelings of despair and lament. ‘The New Holocaust Hypocrisy’, another track I latched on to, is again brimming with power and dark imagery, indeed it would be easy to pick out any track in all honesty but although they each have their own essence and individuality, the whole album gels really well as a body of work. The overall production sound is very well polished and crisp, a real credit as I’m sure the budget didn’t allow for buckets of cash to be thrown at it, completing the picture of a project well done.

It will be very interesting to see how the Sonus Mortis sound develops in the future, the scope is definitely there to grow and evolve but I hope the Symphonic and Doom slant continues to feature heavily in future works, as on this album it lifts the whole piece to different level. A very well put together album, born from the mind of a highly talented musician and composer, it probably won’t convert many non believers to the darkside, that I am sure was not the intention but if like me, you enjoy music that creates an atmosphere and tries to tell a story, then this is well worth a listen.

Track Listing;

1. Chthonic Chasm
2. War Prophecy
3. Revelations
4. The Crypt Of The Death Prophet
5. Banshee Remnants
6. Sonus Mortis
7. Mass Exodus
8. The Rise Of The Obsidian Destroyer
9. Memento Mori
10. Systematic Eradication
11. Shell Shocked
12. Cavity
13. The New Holocaust Hypocrisy
14. Necronom IV
15. Zenith

The album is available via Bandcamp and Bigcartel

https://www.facebook.com/sonusmortisband?fref=ts