Mortifera "Maledictiih" Cassette

Not the most prolific of bands, Mortifera have released seven recordings in a career spanning almost one and a half decades and "Maledictih" was their second album which came out in 2010. Mortifera have an impressive pedigree: Noktu was a member of Celestia and runs Drakkar Productions, and the band has had some association with the French Black Legions and the musician Neige (Alcest) so listeners will be expecting something quite special here.
Noktu plays all the instruments here and many listeners will be able to guess that - for one thing, the percussion (synthetic) is weak which lessens the impact of the music. The melodies and riffs can be quite dramatic and carry considerable power so they need very strong and robust drumming to back them up, and it's disappointing that the music doesn't get that treatment. As it is, the music is not bad but it's not really outstanding either. Noktu flails a lot on mostly short tracks but his singing is limited to scratchy growl and never rises to blood-chilling screams or anguished howls. The pace tends to be the same (medium-fast) for the majority of songs and the music just hurries along without generating much emotion or tension. Listeners are likely to feel left behind by music that rushes by and fails to connect with them in some way. And this is meant to be depressive and dark music!
It's probably best to hear the album in one hit and forget that you're listening to definite songs - they're not all that distinct from one another. They just keep on going and going without much pause between tracks. There's very little attempt on Noktu's part to connect with his audience: no attempt at defining an atmosphere or a mood (the closest a song comes in this respect is one of the later tracks "Jusqu'au dernier souffle" which does have some actually melancholy riffs and tremolo guitar work) or singing the lyrics as if he really means them.
Cramming a lot of busy and short songs of workman-like quality onto a full-length album format for the grand total of just over 34 minutes in playing time is no substitute for music with atmosphere, feeling and power.

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