Writing this review is probably a pointless exercise – Chances are if you hate the idea of a Black Metal album from then nothing I will write will change your mind….

Firstly Mortem were an early, influential band in the Black Metal scene but only recorded a few demos before all the members left for more well-known groups (Mayhem, Thorns, Arcturus). Now thirty years on they have reformed to properly record those demos as a new album, Slow Death.

Alongside the original five demo songs there is one other song from the same period and a cover of the Mayhem track Funeral Fog (sung in Norwegian).

With song titles such as Mutilated Corpse and Agonized to Suicide you can fairly well guess what it will sound like – a brutal hybrid of Death and Black Metal.

The album comes with original demo recording so you can compare and contrast. What the new recordings gain in better production and 30 years’ worth of learning to play their instruments, they lose in youthful energy.

This is a really good album IF you like your metal extreme and can live with the shrieking vocals but if that doesn’t sound like something you would enjoy then probably best to give this album a miss…