In the realms of Finnish heavy metal, the name MORS SUBITA finds itself quite well-established at this point. Having made their debut back in 2011 with “Human Waste Compression,” the band now find themselves with Out of Line Music, with their fourth full-length release having come out on October 13th, 2023. Having been quite impressed with their set at Dark River Festival this year, it seemed prudent to check it out!
The album opens swiftly with “Into the Flame,” which sets an encouraging tone with a horrendous shriek and droning sounds that sound like someone amped up Bruce Dickinson‘s “A Tyranny of Souls” into black metal territory, though it does slow down into more alluring tones as it goes on, before getting crushingly heavy. Acting as an intro though, it merely lures you in during its 2½ minute run-time, for there is much more to come as the album progresses. Is it an accurate depiction of what is incoming? I’m not quite certain about that, as there are some sounds that never reappear as the album continues, though that doesn’t stop this from being a bangin’ intro!
“Origin of Fire” is a really consistent and powerful release, with energetic, brutal parts, as heard in “Blackout,” while “Regenerate” boasts somewhat of a wolverine purr in its vocals at times. There’s a good balance between melodic material and outright thrashy parts, with songs like “Fire, Walk with Me” and “Vile” having proper thrashing/moshing moments, while other songs like “Don’t Stop” – which also boasts some nice guttural vocals – and “Tranquillity” have a more driven, grungy feel to them. Furthermore, there are some nice guitar parts, like the melodies in “Blackout” or the soloing in “Blood Eagle,” “Regenerate,” and “Vile.”
“Walk Alone” is a pretty melodic, catchy, and crushing track, making for a solid penultimate track, while “The Killing Trend” wraps up the album on a more epic and dramatic note, making for a solid ending to the release, so if Finnish melodic death metal is one of your go-to styles, you should definitely check out this album! The quality is quite consistent throughout, making this a really solid release for fans of the genre!
Written by Bear Wiseman
Tracklist
- Into the Flame
- Fire, Walk with Me
- Blackout
- Blood Eagle
- Don’t Stop
- Regenerate
- Vile
- Downfall
- Tranquillity
- Walk Alone
- The Killing Trend
Lineup
Eemeli Bodde – vocals
Juho Näppä – guitars
Mika Lammassaari – guitars
Mika Junttila – guitars
Ville Miinala – drums
Label
Out of Line Music
