Customer Reviews

Post Momentary Affliction

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is Mortification's best CD in my opinion among all of them, even though Scrolls of the Megiloth is actually heavier. Post Momentary Affliction is great metal CD because the songs are brilliantly crafted, the double-bass pedals of Jayson Sherlock are incredible, and the death growls of Steve Rowe fits this sound. The entire CD is not filled with death metal growling, but most of it is and it is better for it! The standout cuts are: From The Valley of Shadows," "Grind Planetarium," and "Overseer." Take a chance in 2004 and go back and buy a CD from over a few years ago. You will enjoy it.

Being a Mortification fan for almost a decade, and having just about all of the albums, I would rate this as their best album. The songs are the best quality I've seen in all their work, in terms of songwriting AND musical skills. I would also rate it as the last, and best (though many say Scrolls is the best) of their older work (which is quite different in style from their newer work). Perhaps the reason it's my favorite is because of the doom elements thrown in - Steve's vocals are no longer just growls, but occasional "doom shouts", and the guitar riffs are especially doomy in some parts. And last but not least, Jason Sherlock's world-renowned drumming is finely showcased here, and is another MAJOR reason I love this album (or any album he contributed to). You have to hear it to believe it.

Post Momentary Affliction is Mortification's best CD and here's why. Self-Titled and Scrolls of the Megilloth were both AMAZING, but stylistically they owed a heavy debt to thrash/grindcore and brutal death metal respectively. Though they were enjoyable, and darned good in their own rite the songs were sometimes indistinguishable from one another, save for Raise the Chalice. PMA is where Steve, Mick, and Jayson hit their artistic pinnacle. They take the music to intersting places by mixing death, doom, thrash, groove, and power metal, interesting time signatures, and just plain great playing. Example: The epic 'From the Valley of the Shadows' deftly changes between doom, thrash, and grind sections without ever making you recall any of those genres while you're listening to it. The song is distinctly Mortification. Mick's riffing is at it's creative best showing death/thrash influences, but recalling no one in particular. Steve's vocals are a mix of powerful death growls and thrash shouting that really showcase his range and diversity. Plus, the fantastic lyrics are mostly discernable despite the death style. And Jayson Sherlock really pushes himself to the edge of his masterful ability, holding it all together with his crisp double kicks, and flawless thrash/blast beats, and time changes. My only regret about this album is that out of 14 tracks (on the original album) at least four are little instrumental snippets that don't qualify as songs. But From the Valley of the Shadows, Human Condition, Distarnish Priest, Grind Planetarium, Overseer, and Impulsation are the absolute peak of creativity for these Australian metal pioneers. I never get bored with this record all these years later, which I am sad to say happens with S-T and Scrolls. On a side note, I like the Intense Records cover art way better than the Nuclear Blast version. The flaming heart and sword is the true cover as far as I'm concerned. If you get a chance to pick this one up you will NOT be disappointed. This one was never topped.

Post Momentary Affliction is Mortification's finest hour I believe. After this release the band went into a more thrash/straightforward metal dimenision, thus abandoning the dath metal influences. This was the pinnacle of the band's career. And let's face it after this release the band lost a lot of fans on the follow up recordings after this. It's due to the fact that this was a fantastic release and everyone wanted another scrolls/momentary album and never got it. This recording still stands up today. Brutal death metal w/tons of blast beats and the production on this back in the day was killer. Metalmind's remaster adds a little more loudness to the recording and the sound is crisper. Excellent liner notes on this release and this is an all time classic.

This is Mortification's third album which was originally released in November of 1993. It is their follow up to the 1992 death metal classic Scrolls of the Megilloth.

On this album their is a clear shift in style from its predecessors as the band reverts somewhat back to their thrash metal roots while still maintaining an adequate dose of death metal elements. Also making its way in are a lot of industrial influences. Between each track are little thirty second or so sound bytes that sound kind of mesmerizing which I think adds a nice touch to their new musical direction.

Generally the songs are longer and more complex in structure than on previous releases. Most of the album contains death metal growls although this is occasioned by shouting thrash vocals such as the chorus on the song Human Condition and the verses on Impulsation. Steve Rowe uses a more mid ranged vocal tone with his otherwise recognizable death growl.

Steve Rowe displays his usual high tuned bass mastery that seems to be heard more prominently than on the band's previous releases. It obviously follows the guitar riffs but also compliments them quite well. Only problem is with the song Flight to Victory. It is an entire track of a two minute bass solo which doesn't really add anything positive to the album other than evidently being strongly influenced by legendary Manowar bassist Joey Demaio's playing. Unfortunately it lacks the inspiration of the latter. However, it's not really a hindrance to the album either so I could take it or leave it. Otherwise his outstanding bass playing capabilities are showcased very well within the rest of the songs on here.

Michael Carlisle's guitar playing is speedy and precise as well as adding more complexity to his riffing and song writing. For instance, with the song Overseer (which he wrote) you hear 9 whole minutes of numerous riffs and some good changes in tempo which solidifies this track as one of the album's strongest despite being so lengthy. Another song that he wrote was From the Valley of Shadows which is on the fringe of being an epic as it is rather lengthy as well as brilliantly composed.

Also, this wouldn't be a review without mentioning the immensely talented Jayson Sherlock's fast and dead on accurate drumming which is showcased here perhaps more so than anything he has done before or since. His incredible timing is just one element of his remarkable ability as one of death metal's premier drummers. And as usual, his swift and precise changes of tempo are quite obvious throughout this entire disc.

The production here is a noticeable improvement from Scrolls... as it is cleaner and every instrument is more clearly heard and not so murky. However it does sound a bit dry which takes away from the heaviness of some of the more "brutal" songs on here.

My favorite songs on here are From the Valley of Shadows, Overseer, and Vital Fluids.

I just gave this album 4 stars because in my opinion it's just not quite up to par with their previous two releases although I still regard it as a musically solid album. In my opinion it's just not quite as heavy as their self titled debut (1991) and their second release Scrolls of the Megilloth (1992).

However, if you like death metal from the early 1990's I would recommend this album as well as their first two albums which at the time were probably the heaviest music recorded by a Christian metal band.

This CD is one of the best Mortification CDs to date. It is heavy enough for death heads, yet it's really thrashy for those who like thrash. My favorite songs are Distarnish Priest and Butchered Mutilation. (only available on the Metal Mind Poland April 2008 Digi-Pak)Distarnish Priest has really good guitar and the vocals are awesome because Steve Rowe goes between screaming and growling vocals and Butchered Mutilation is awesome because it is an old school death metal song and it sounds amazing when Mr. Rowe and Jayson Sherlock have a death vocal duet. The CD is pretty much thrash metal with some death metal thrown in except on the bonus tracks that are available on the Metal Mind Poland Release. The only complaint is that they put like 5 little sound effect clips between songs that are trippy and sometimes annoying, but you can get over it. Post Momentary Affliction is an awesome CD and I recommend it to ANY metalhead, Christian or not because it will blow you away.

This is my second favorite Mortification album, in my opinion they lost their edge after this, I heard Blood World and Primitive Rhythm Machine and that's as far as I got, I have no clue what their newer material sounds like. The remastered Version is worth picking up even if you have the original just in production alone.