Madder Mortem - Desiderata

(Originally published in Chronicles of Chaos in 2006)

Madder Mortem is a weird creature. While their heaviness, or level of brutality if you will, is at a level that can appeal to those who normally like hard rock rather than -metal-, the levels of energy and intensity in their songs often far surpass those of even the most brutal bands. They tap into the power of harmonies and emotion, pouring their hearts into the performance while toying with disharmonics, contrasts and unusual song structures and melodies. Few bands can pull this off and still sound -sane-, least of all decent. Madder Mortem do it seemingly effortlessly and sound amazing.

They have always had a unique sound, but it has never really packed this kind of a punch. Whether the improvement is due to the entire band having matured or could be credited to the two new band members remains uncertain, but considering the slightly richer and heavier guitar sound I will go out on a limb and peg the new guitarist Odd Eivind Ebbesen as a genius. Actually he is not new, but the original, first guitarist from when the band called themselves Mystery Tribe. Another refreshing thing about Madder Mortem is that their sound is so honest. While it would be easy to polish Agnete's vocals with studio tricks, it's the raw and unbridled touch to both her performance and the songwriting itself that really lets the band blow the listener away.

My review was a tag-along on the main review so I didn't get to score it. Pedro scored it 9/10 and while I agreed at the time, and it is still probably my favourite Madder album, the single from it is so weak that I think 4/5 is appropriate. Very strong 4 though!