Mental Cruelty - A Hill To Die Upon

 They’re back with a vengeance; leaning heavily on their blackened influence, this is sophisticated death metal which is going to make you pull those nasty, yet satisfied faces. With their third full-length album, Lucca Schmerler serving vocals, Marvin Kessler and Nahuel Lozano taking the lead on guitars, Viktor Dick bossing the bass and Danny Strasser blasting on drums, Mental Cruelty are going from strength to strength, proving that they’ve got a lot to offer in this emerging genre. I’m quite excited to share this release with you, I hope you’ll enjoy it as I have.

A calming ambience introduces the album [Avgang] as a precursor to the forthcoming cavalcade of noise they’ve called Ultima Hypocrita. This feels like a bit of a breath of fresh air for the Germanic Death Metal Quintet, much more akin to the orchestral backdrop accustomed to Lorna Shore or Fleshgod Apocalypse. A high level of intensity bursts out of the stereo field; from the soaring highs of blackened melodies to the earth shattering stabbing riffs, their interpretation of what Blackened Deathcore can be is a beautiful compliment of creativity. I’m glad to hear a solo too - I think you’ve got to pick your moments for soloing within this genre, and I’d say they’ve fashioned one quite tastefully.

Abadon continues this flavour of orchestral padding (or at least to start with) before diving into the disgusting rye of breakdown that would be expected from their previous albums. A bit of variety between the two lighter and darker shades of orchestration delivers these short bursts of intensity framed by spacious string passages with a level of effectiveness that, so far, elevates their style since their last release.

King Ov Fire, previously released as a single in the lead up to the album drop, certainly drops a dirty one. To me, the heaviness of relentless chugs and perforating drums is more reminiscent of their first album, which in retrospect was somewhat lacking in the variety they’ve provided structurally here. Or at least, in terms of instrumentation, they’ve amped up the blackened influence and it’s pretty damn sick.

Eternal Eclipse makes me think of wary Fleshgod, but with a darker twist and sexier production. Would I have liked a reprise of the opening theme to tie together the overall structure? Maybe, but the seductive blasting which precedes the breakdown section is flawless, juxtaposed gorgeously against the slamming chorus-style section which comes back to visit regularly. Let’s talk about the ending too... In fact, just listen to it, and you’ll understand why I mention it.

Death Worship is one of the few tracks which is devoid of an introduction - it goes in pretty dry. I suppose by this point in the album they’ve established their sound enough to get away with it, and in fairness this track is packed with filthiness. The punchy snare makes me feel a bit like I need a shower afterwards. Gotta admit, I really wasn’t expecting the second half of the track to launch into another symphonic/blackened section either, not to mention the false ending 30 seconds before the real ending, leaving you wanting to hear that little bit more.

Fossenbrate offers some escape from the whole ordeal, if you can call it that. I’d be a little more impressed if they’d utilised a few more dynamics than simply just loud - it’s maybe a little too short as well - but hey, in comparison to their writing previous to A Hill to Die Upon, it’s a fairly bold move and it’s something I’d be excited to hear more of in future (if that’s a direction they feel comfortable pursuing). Then again, not everything can be progressive, and I’ve got to learn to accept this fact.

The title track A Hill to Die Upon is sheer blackened glory. Think Lorna Shore meets Abhorrent Decimation, and you’re not far off. There’s a tasty little solo too, complete with a topping of dual harmonies and a subsequent chord progression bringing a sigh of melody before the ending onslaught. I feel that my pickle has been rather tickled. 

Extermination Campaign is maybe a little more of the same, but that’s something I’m very much ok with. It’s a bit like complaining about having too much cookie dough in your ice cream. It does quite successfully paint a landscape with its melodies appearing over the top of certain phrases and peeping out of the ends of a few phrases, tailing off into the sunset before the clouds conform towards the track’s conclusion.

The Left Hand Path makes me immediately think of Modern Day Babylon, before the drums punctuate the otherwise serene setting. I wouldn’t have minded hearing the riff variate a little more harmonically, or even at all, but there’s a taste of that in the strings following the quasi-verse section that breaks apart this idea a bit. I’m a fan of the forthcoming orchestral style interlude too. Again, a few more dynamic contrasts wouldn’t go amiss, but that’s more a criticism for what could be achieved on the record rather than how this might work in a live setting. Let’s face it, if you’re hearing Blackened Death Metal live, you want it to be loud. Doesn’t mean you can’t differentiate what’s heard on record to what’s heard from the stage, but this level of scrutiny certainly shouldn’t undermine the rest of the compositional integrity heard throughout the rest of this track and indeed the rest of the album. There’s so many little sections to keep getting lost in, each with their own melodic ideas, that I’m going to back and listen to this album again as soon as I’ve finished this review.

They’ve upped their game, their sound, compositional prowess and I feel as though there’s a lot more mileage I can enjoy with A Hill to Die Upon. Personally, I feel there’s always a challenge with Death Metal to ascertain a sophisticated level of variety when presenting musical ideas rather than just a continuous flow of breakdowns and dirtiness. I’d say they’ve achieved that, and I’ve really enjoyed the result.

8/10

J.R.