Band:	Mortuary Drape
Album:	Buried In Time
Style:	Black metal, Death metal
Release date:	November 2004

01. Unfading Revenge
02. Deep Void
03. Ectoplasm
04. Mistery ...Guide Us To Death
05. Look Behind
06. Mirror Portrait
07. Who Calls Me
08. Spiritism ...Around Us
09. Animism
10. Your Last Cradle
11. Crosses In Graveyard

Albums like this one give me a good impression even before I start listening to it. One look at the artwork, morbid and beautiful, and I have an already favourable opinion. But since the design is not the most important part of a cd, let's put it aside and get deeper into this Buried In Time. While I'm at it, I'm also going to put aside the ridiculous nicknames of the band members. Mortuary Drape is, in AvantGarde's own words, a "cult band" from the beautiful country of Italy. They have been around for over fifteen years, always in the underground - from which the "cult" status probably- and they have suffered from several line-up changes, the last one to date having left only the singer.

This longevity means that Mortuary Drape went through the advent of death metal at the beginning of the 90's, then overcame the collapse of this scene a few years later, and eventually saw its rebirth and the commercial success of a lot of more or less melodic death bands. Not only have they witnessed these glorious and hard times, though, but they've obviously also learnt from all the evolutions of metal. They have been able to pick every distinctive feature of all the great death metal bands up and to gather all the good ideas into a unique pattern that is now their trademark.

In other words, Mortuary Drape's death metal is still firmly old school, with, in addition, atmospheres that can remind of the Swedish death metal scene of the 90's ('Crosses In Graveyard', 'Unfading Revenge'), and catchy riffs that tend toward brutal thrash ('Deep Void'). That could be very usual, but they have, as I said above, a very unique sound and songwriting that give an aura of originality to this album. Even if Buried In Time is high-paced with typical dissonant solos, there is a little something to each song, a riff - this band is a riff machine, it has to be said -, a chorus ('Ectoplasm', Look Behind'), which catches the attention. There are a lot of unusual features for a death metal band, as well as a lot of great ideas, like the excellent link between the instrumental 'Mirror Portrait' and 'Who Calls Me'. All these are little things, but together they help make this album a great experience.

I must also say that the quality of the production helps a lot. Mortuary Drape can congratulate the Italian studio AlphaOmega, since the sound is perfect for death metal: clear, dark and powerful, it emphasizes the marked technical aspect of 'Buried In Time' without decreasing the strength of the compositions. A lot of more renowned bands that, after several years and with a bigger budget, manage to have a lousy sound should follow my new Italian idols' example. In the case of Mortuary Drape, I'd say this album deserved nothing less.

So my death metal friends, as you all know, Xmas approaches, and since Buried In Time is a must-have, maybe you should ask it for your present to your girl(boy)friend or your parents or whoever cares about. It's not something you will regret, believe me. I don't know about the 'cult' status of the band, but for sure the 'masterpiece' status of this album is not out of reach. I'd say it's dangerously close.

Highlights: Deep Void, Look Behind, Who Calls Me, Crosses In Graveyard