MORTAL FUNGUS
"Mortal fungus" (1994)
Song list: not available
This is a collection of rehearsal recordings from 1992 to 1994. 29 raw songs, noisy death/grind with an extremely bad sound, written and played without skill. The sound of guitar may remind of early Celtic Frost at times.
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MORTAL FUNGUS
"The place of the funeral" (1994)
Song list: not available
All 17 songs on this tape were recorded in 1993, and sound a bit more hardcore-ish than the previous Mortal Fungus effort. However, sound and songwriting are still sloppy and brutally rough, with offbeat drumming and guitar costantly out of tune. Someone typed Mortal Fungus as "the italian answer to Hellhammer" after this release.
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ARKENEMY
"Frost bite" (1997)
1. Ichor of corruption
2. Imandra lake
3. Impalement
4. Lone wolf sunrise
Formed in 1995 with the addiction of ex-Mortal Fungus singer, bass player and lyricist, Frank Wells, Arkenemy recorded this 4-songs demo, and signed a deal with Northern Darkness one-year later. "Frost bite" is a good piece of thrash/death metal, maybe dispersive and pretentious at times, but very aggressive and played with skill and rage. In my own opinion the sound here is better than on the following debut-CD, "Absolute". "Ichor of corruption", melodic death metal with a good acceleration in the middle, is the best track.
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MORTAL FUNGUS
"Frightening countries" (1999)
1. Frightening countries
2. Season of survival
3. Liquid putrescence
4. Commemoration of the dead
5. Service for a vacant coffin
6. Dark divulgations
After a period with Arkenemy, the original drummer/vocalist of Mortal Fungus, Frank Wells (now handling bass guitar), recruited a new line-up and recorded these 6-songs of total death metal. Altough production is poor in terms of sound, due to lack of money, "Frightening countries" was a great improvement for MF, allowing them to be finally taken seriously in the underground. "Service for a vacant coffin", a cover of Autopsy, is a Death Metal anthem!
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"Frightening Countries" reviewed @ VOICES FROM THE DARK SIDE!
DEMONIA
"Promo 2003"
1. Stakes
2. Infernal garden
3. Mortal poetry
Demonia are surely one of the most promising gothic metal bands of the new generation. Their second promo-CD, actually recorded in 2001, was released two years later due to line-up problems (drummer, bassist and keyboards player left the group after this release). The three songs on "Promo 2003" reveal an absolutely brilliant songwriting and unusual taste for melody. There are a lot of slow doomy tunes, plus excellent female vocals different from the usual van Giersbergen/Lee/Scabbia style. Each track is totally awesome, tough they're always more than 5 minutes long, in fact the only weak point on this work is the short running time. After line-up changes, Demonia changed their name to ALTHEREA (www.altherea.com).
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"Promo 2003" reviewed @ DOOM-METAL.COM!
ARKENEMY / MORTAL FUNGUS
"The split CD" (2003)
1. Ichor of corruption
2. Imandra lake
3. Impalement
4. Lone wolf sunrise
5. Mindscanner
6. Frightening countries
7. Season of survival
8. Liquid putrescence
9. Commemoration of the dead
10. Service for a vacant coffin
11. Dark divulgations
This release contains remastered versions of the classics Arkenemy's "Frost bite" and Mortal Fungus' "Frightening countries", originally released on tape only.
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MORTAL FUNGUS
"Mortal...Funeral" (2005)
1. Cadaveric phenomenons
2. Celebrations of death
3. Clinically dead
4. Commemoration of the dead
5. Dead end track
6. Death by eviration
7. Deathly silence
8. Dehydration
9. Destined to rot
10. Eerie aeons
11. Epitaph on the plaque
12. Evilys
13. Fast putrefaction
14. Hebraic plague
15. Illegal autopsy
16. Impure
17. Jesus Christ's left hand
18. Justifiable manslaughter
19. Lay in the grave
20. Lullacry
21. Maledictory malediction
22. Necrophilia
23. Pant of midnight
24. Place of the funeral
25. Raise the dead
26. Self mutilation of mortified limbs
27. Souls of red
28. Symptoms of malady
29. The age of megalithic alignments
30. The black plague
31. The broken sepulchre
32. The mortuary ritual
33. Uncompromising lifecode
34. United in death
35. Unsane practices
36. War worn
Early Mortal Fungus rehearsal sessions, recorded in 1993/94 and originally released on tape only ("Mortal fungus" and "The place of the funeral" demos) in very few copies. Raw, sloppy, noisy death/grind under the influence of early Hellhammer, early Necrophagia, early Napalm Death & Carcass. There are also previously unreleased tracks such the killer "Justifiable manslaughter".
Rating:
WORLD FUNERAL
"World funeral" (2006)
1. ...and she asks
2. Manoshit
3. Shell defence
4. Manpower slave
5. Up the comics!
6. Zombie priest
7. World funeral...
In 2004, the original line-up of Mortal Fungus got back together assembling a collection of old MF tunes ("Mortal...Funeral"), and working on new stuff. World Funeral play slow, ultra-heavy riffs, groovy traditional doom with a raw edge and dark rock vocals. In their own words, World Funeral define theirselves as a "doom/core" outfit.
Rating:
½
"World Funeral" reviewed @ DOOM-METAL.COM!
WORLD FUNERAL
"Caledarium et frigidarium" (2007)
1. Puppet terror
2. Black shit vortex
3. The genitalia & stomach thinkers
4. Empathy for a glorious past
5. Human allergy
6. Genital obsession
7. Fart of the moribund
Here is the last release by this two-piece. As always they mix slow doom sections with 'core riffage, but this time sound & songwriting are less experimental and more focused. Vocals are more powerful and groovy, often with insertions of growls and rarely even epic screams. Drums & bass lines are quite intricated and guitars are straight-to-the-point, tough harmonies and leads make songs catchy, almost refined. Final note for the production, better than before but still with a raw edge that represents the trademark of World Funeral.
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TRANSIENCY
"Manqualm" (2007)
1. Manqualm (intro)
2. The fatal godsend
3. Circle of the flagellants
4. Plague spreaders
5. The alchemist
The TRANSIENCY project started in 2002 after Frank Wells was forced to quit Demonia for personal reasons. Therefore, it took almost 6 years to see the light of day! Transiency mix elements from gothic, doom and death metal: melancholic melodies, harmony guitars, growls, slow sections & sudden tempo changes. Plus, the unique touch of Giorgio Todesco (Demonia, Altherea) on guitars and production duties. Lyric wise, "Manqualm" is a very documented and detailed concept about "The Black Death". The limited edition of this CD comes with a brochure with lyrics, images and historical notes about The Plague.
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