Mortuous "Through Wilderness" CD Digipack

San Jose Death Metal. Eight tracks of true Death and Doom in the vein of Paradise Lost, Incantation, and My Dying Bride. Features current and former members of Necrot and Exhumed.

Mexican CD version released in 6-panel Digipak.
Officially licensed by Carbonized and Tankcrimes Records.

Colin Tarvin - Guitar and Vocals
Mike Beams - Guitar, Vocals, Piano, Violin
Clint Roach - Bass
Chad Gailey - Drums

Guests Performances:
Chris Reifert (Guest Vocals on “The Dead Yet Dream” and “Anguish and Insanity”)
Danny Coralles (Solo on “The Dead Yet Dream”)
Derrel Houdashelt (Solo on “Through Wilderness”)
Teresa Wallace (Flute on “Screaming Headless”)

I suppose the best words to sum it up would be "tangled," "messy," and "powerful." Mortuous's debut album Through Wilderness is raw and powerful while still maintaining a modern feel.
First of all, this is heavy as hell. Not in a down-tuned-guitar-through-an-amp-sim way, and not in a playing-unnecessarily-slow-tritones way either. It's heavy because it's genuine death metal, and because sitting through each and every riff feels like having your face slowly ripped off by some bizarre tree beast, perhaps one just like the one shown on the album cover. It doesn't feel contrived or like a knock-off of more classic bands; it has its own uniqueness.
Mortuous have successfully achieved the much sought-after "wall of sound" without excessive digital enhancement, which I admire. The music feels very personal, even if they are titled in such a manner as "Screaming Headless." There is obvious feeling in every note, not the robotic going-through-the-motions type of over-coordination typical in emerging extreme metal bands nowadays. The drums play tons of blast beats, but either they aren't triggered or the band is using an extremely high-quality sample. The guitars are just dripping with over-the-top distortion, and it sounds quite amazing.
Through Wilderness is among my favorite albums for 2018, and possibly my very favorite for underground or emerging bands. It really is a unique, awesome album that is a really fun listen. I would highly recommend it to any metalheads, as most would enjoy it. There's not a single bad song present.

Sample: