Mortemia – Misere Mortem (2010)

Do you remember what was the feeling when you first played “Beyond The Veil” from Tristania?, well this will be almost the same feeling you get when playing “Misere Mortem”. From the mastermind behind both of those albums Mr. Morten Veland we get his self-indulgently named band Mortemia.

Controlling all aspects behind the album, Morten has managed to release another masterpiece in terms of Gothic Metal. He recorded every single instrument, mixed and produced the album in his own studio, the only thing he could not do is sing the choir parts featured on this album.

However, not all is sweet and good, since as you can probably notice the music it self is a rehash of what he has done with Tristania and Sirenia minus the female vocals. I’m not saying this is bad by any means since you can argue that this is the ‘Morten Veland’ style and you would be 100% correct. But for us that expected a bit more, some innovation by one of the best composers of Gothic Metal anthems we only get a very good album that does not feature anything new.

That being said, this release features great work on the choir parts making the whole album sound 10 times more epic. Morten Veland’s vocals are very strong and serve their purpose of upsetting the ‘clean choirs’ perfectly. The female vocals, a signature of Morten’s bands, are never missed in this release.

The orchestration behind this album is also very epic, up to par with some of the latest Sirenia albums. Morten Veland is a master at creating elaborate classical arrangements and mixing them with aggressive vocals and guitar riffs. So like you would expect this aspect of the music is very solid like always.

Of the few things you notice on “Misere Mortem” is that all songs start with “The” something that strikes me as quite odd since I remember this not being a good thing when I was sleeping through my writing class, but I will let this as a mystery to be solved by an interview question in the future. Also the songs structure is quite similar within the tracks and overall within all the other songs written by Morten.

In general we can say that Mortemia is as epic as it was touted to be. If you are a fan of either old Tristania or Sirenia, you will love this release from start to end. Also all Gothic Metal fans will rejoice by this album because of its lush arrangements and amazing choir parts. “Misere Mortem” will surely be on our Top 10 of 2010 albums list.

Release: March 9th, 2010

Country: Norway