Band:	Mortis Cruentus
Album:	Agony As Doom
Style:	Melodic death metal
Release date:	January 2009

01. Intro
02. Agony As Doom
03. Winter Holocaust
04. Flesh Hunter
05. After Dusk
06. Interlude
07. Omaha
08. Mortis Cruentus
09. Maid Of The Mist
10. Black Dreams
11. Blood Of Your Sacrifaces
12. Between Blood & War

Since I have absolutely nothing to say concerning Mortis Cruentus that could make for an interesting introduction, besides stating the obvious and boring facts, I'm just going to start this review about "Agony As Doom" right here and now.

Mortis Cruentus has me torn. On the one side, we have a band that doesn't do anything new, has a somewhat dull and bland production and few to no spectacular ideas concerning the mixture of Black and Death metal. On the other side, we have an obviously passionate and hard-working band (for example, the album is self-produced), with catchy solos and heart for the cause, you know. Especially the solos in "Maid Of The Mist" and "Blood Of Your Sacrifices" make the songs worthwhile enough. Two songs is not the entire album though, and the other songs are nothing more than your average souped-up extreme metal songs with growls and shrieks.

If you want to know what this sounds like, imagine a mix of old Behemoth and new Behemoth. Or you could just go the easy way and listen to their Satanica album. You'd have to keep in mind that this is much less ass-kicking though. Having said all this, I do see a good future for Mortis Cruentus. They've got the skills, they've got the passion for this style, the will to do everything it takes to get their word out, so you do the math. If these guys can land a record deal and rehearse a bit more, I'm sure their next effort will be much more satisfying. And let's face it, a ton of bands that weren't/aren't nearly as good as Mortis here had/have a record deal.

So, in the light of all the terrible bands that have a label deal these days, I'm giving Mortis Cruentus the benefit of the doubt. After all, this is only their first shot and there's no need to be harsh on them. Mortis, crank up the production (though please, please, please, don't turn into another mind-bogglingly over-produced boring band such as Zyklon), sit down and gather a few cool ideas... and we'll await your next release.