Mutiilation - Remains Of A Ruined, Dead, Cursed Soul LP
Swirl Vinyl.
I got to know about this band and this album through various album review sites and all of the reviews gave this album highest praise. Also the main thing that attracted me was the mention of raw, ultra low production. I had to find a way to get hold of this. Well forget about getting it anywhere except on ebay for 100 dollars minimum, so I downloaded it. Upon hearing the first song 'Suffer The Gestalt' I felt a chill down my spine, the hairs on my arms stand up and butterflies in my stomach all at once, if that's possible. His high pitched screams of pain reminded me of Burzum but with even worse production. Every song in here is a winner, 'To The Memory Of The Dark Countess' has a hypnotic, yet catchy riff that was used also on 'Eternal Empire Of Majesty Death' from the 'Vampires Of Black Imperial Blood' album and 'Melancholy Of Evil Souls' song from the side project 'Satanicum Tenebrae'. The first five songs are from an aborted album in 1993 called 'Evil, The Gestalt Of Abomination' and the last two are from perhaps the 'Vampires...' sessions in 1995.
But one thing that no one mentions is that the last song 'Holocaust In Mourning Dawn (French Version)' was re-recorded because Meyhna'ch didn't get along anymore with previous drummer Krissagrazabeth so he left, but not without having done vocals on that song from the 'Evil' sessions. This song was left out of the 'Remains...' release but can be found in the compilation/rarities album 'Ten Year's Of Depressive Destruction 1992-2002'. That song is titled 'Holocaust In Mourning Dawn (drummer on vocals)' and has the same production as the 1993 sessions from the first 5 songs on 'Remains...'. This in my mind is superior to the 1995 re-recorded version.
The production sounds like it was recorded in an underground hallway, very echo-ey and hollow sounding. Almost has a 'live' feel to it, the last 2 have a more polished, less echo vibe to them and falls slightly short but enjoyable nonetheless. This album was mainly recorded when they were still a 3-piece until the last two when it was perhaps Meyhna'ch and Mordred. The new Mutiilation needs to go to back to this type of production and band members to do drumming and bass duties if we are the ever hear stuff like this again
It will be difficult for Meyhna'ch to ever reproduce the magic and evil constructed on this excellent piece of work. For now, we always have this and 'Vampires...' to remind us of what black metal excellence sounds like.
- LordBelketraya via Metal archives
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