Entartung – Peccata Mortalia (2014)

Delivering one of the most savage and yet melodic Black Metal onslaughts of 2014, today we have Germany’s mysterious outfit Entartung and their sophomore release “Peccata Mortalia”. With a very savage sound, this band nicely throws in some melodic and atmospheric elements to create some of the densest and demoralizing Black Metal tunes of this year.

Opening with a weird intro, the band’s full prescense is felt with the devastating “Blasphemaverit in Spiritum Sanctum”. In this track the band immediately generates comparisons to bands like Horna and Taake with their razor sharp aggressive riffs and commanding vocals. However, Entartung takes it one step further with their ultra-catchy melodic riffing passages. In full (newer) Gorgoroth fashion, “Out of Darkness into Light” delivers more blows with incisive riffs and eerie atmospheric sections.

With the spirit of war unleashed, “Faith on the Scaffold” made us bust out into an all-out headbanging session thanks to its crushing guitars and hyper-violent drumming. After breaking down the flow of the release with the instrumental “Cimmerian Shade”, the band comes back at us with the sickening atmosphere of “To Conquer Immortality in the Depths”. Creating a think distorted atmosphere in this track, the bass guitar comes out on top with a mid-tempo hypnotic onslaught that will give you nightmares as the track starts to warm up. In this 12-minute tour de force, the band goes through all stages of calmness to frenetic hyper-drive with some of the most demoralizing BM passages we have heard in months.

If you survived the monumental 12-minute track, the rawness of “The Law of the Claw” should bring you back to your ‘typical’ Black Metal ‘happy place’ just in time for the release to close with another creepy outro section. As a whole, “Peccata Mortalia” is one of the most complete and destructive Black Metal releases of 2014. The band perfectly blends rawness with melody and comes out with a very commanding sound. If you are a fan of acts like Gorgoroth, Horna, and Algazanth, you better keep an eye out for Entartung.

Label: World Terror Committee

Release: March 8th, 2014

Genre: Black Metal

Country: Germany