Mortal Slaughter   

Lepers

Thrashing Madness 2012

Polish death thrashers Mortal Slaughter have had their 1994 album rereleased with two bonus rehearsal tracks and what a fine release this is.  A horror movie influenced synth intro sets the mood before the main body of deathly destruction of Commissioned Murder.  The track belts out heavy thrash riffs in a similar vein to early Demolition Hammer and the vocals unleash a morbid assault of strained screams reminiscent of John Tardy.  You hear rhythmic mosh sections arise during the early stages of the song.  A truly crushing affair.  You are confronted by the thrashing mayhem of Nobody's Words as it minces death breakdowns into torso battering riffs.  Occasionally Swedish atmospheric guitar lines surface only to step aside as shredding aggression overwhelm the listener.  A relentless burst of Sepultura-ish speed confront you as Masterful Religions gets underway, however this is soon overtaken by thick, rhythmic breakdowns, perfectly suited to the melee of the early 90s moshpit.  Tranquil, clean guitar deceive you as Freedom ? begins, but this is subsumed by meaty death riffs that grind you like a slow-motion bonesaw.  The last of the original album tracks is Why?  It bludgeons you with a hammering drum line and then leaps into a Sepultura-ish thrash segment that really gets my head banging.  The song is a rapist of your ears with its hateful riffs and uncompromising attitude.  The two rehearsal tracks don't really add much to this recording other tan to display a rawer, more embryonic band, hammering their way to sonic violence.  There was a time when thrash and death were overlapping and Lepers takes those two styles and melds them into a destructive force of obliterating brutality.  Mortal Slaughter have taken the best elements of thrash and death and fused them into a weapon of body rupturing violence.  Beware the destruction this album will wreak upon your corpse.