Cleveland’s Crucified Mortals have been around for a decade or so, and after releasing a couple of demos and splits, one of which with the mighty Deceased, have finally put out a full-length on Hells Headbangers, and it’s a solid offering of earnest,  rugged thrash devoid of the sense of irony or overwrought retro-isms plaguing much of the genre these days. 

Eponymously titled, the debut album harkens back to a thrash that sidled right up to the edge of a much harder brand of music that would eventually become death metal.  The material is not much different than that of Deceased or Destruction; solos are blazing and technically deft, a thick and very pleasingly audible bass guitar clangs around in the basement, and the riffs are sharp as hell, exactly what a thrash band who knows their shit should be ripping out.  Vocally, Craig Horvall sounds quite a bit like Tom Araya, and the tunes here do often remind of those old pros Slayer when they were a major recording force.  I can also here a good deal of L-G Petrov in Horvall’s delivery, and had Entombed begun playing the way Crucified Mortals do after Clandestine then they might have managed to stay relevant.  The only thing really missing from Crucified Mortals is some sense of noteworthiness or captivation that’s going to make an indelible mark on the consciousness.  Not that there needs to be some gang shouted vocals, or forced anthemic silliness, but something significant and memorable that’s going to stay with the listener beyond the running time.

TRACK LISTING

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*Comments:

1.  The Séance
2.  Sordid Treachery
3.  Hidden Tomb
4.  Resurrected Fiend
5.  Figure in Black
6.  Desecrating the Dead
7.  Perpetrator
8.  Ghastly Affliction
9.  Fatal Scheme
10.  Masked Murder
11.  Doom

Total playing time:  37:17

Release Date: March 15, 2011
Label: Hells Headbangers

Crucified Mortals - Crucified Mortals

May 6, 2011

Reviewer: J. A. Burt