MUTILATION RITES

A few months ago I had a black metal party with GG @ Saint Vitus. A few bands were on the bill to play including the Brooklyn based Mutilation Rites. I had heard of them a couple weeks earlier when I was in Chicago and they were slated to play with Nachtmystium & Batillus. I unfortunately ended up missing that show, so when the opportunity arose to check them out at the infamous Greenpoint metal bar I'd been hearing so much about, I couldn't not attend.

We walked in just as the first band, Scowl, ended their set and drank a beer while the second band set up. Black September, a five piece Chicago death metal band with female vocals, I was unfamiliar with them. They were good live, very tight, but the vocals unfortunately got a little lost over the three guitars. Another beer and we settled in to the front row booth for Mutilation Rites. Not much of a crowd had formed when we first got there, as the show was extremely early. But MR being native Brooklynites, drew more of a crowd and more people started filtering in as they finished setting up.

Their live show was most excellent. The majority of their songs taking you on a journey through a foggy field of despair and misanthropy, with beautifully grim yet technical riffs as your soundtrack. They played five tracks, which primarily would be classified as classic, Norwegian influenced black metal. But there is something extremely sophisticated about their sound and the range of each track. You can hear a wide variety of more subtle influences creeping into their overall sound. I picked up a copy of their cassette demo recorded last winter, in which apparently they no longer play any of the songs live. This is quite a shame as they are all exceptional, most notably Negative Space. With a bit of a lineup change since the demo was recorded, MR seem to have become more focused on the technical riffs, while still maintaing an atmosphere of moroseness. They recently signed to Prosthetic Records.

You can listen to the demo and purchase it on bandcamp.

Also, check out this interview on Deaf Sparrow.