This one is going to be short and sweet: Mortician. It’s a band that many people don’t understand. The ridiculously low tuned guitars (G standard, 5 whole steps down from E standard). The fizzy bass tone. Will Rahmer’s cavernous gutturals. The constant barrage of horror samples (sometimes longer than the songs). And the most notable, the noisy electronic drum kit. It is a band that takes you deep down into the abyss of metal sub-genres, and when your insatiable craving for even more brutal death metal appears to overpower you, Mortician comes to the rescue. I have said on many occasions that this is one of the heaviest bands in existence. I may have a soft spot for their album Chainsaw Dismemberment as it was one of the first albums I listened to labeled as brutal death metal. However, little did I know that this would be the heaviest band I knew until I listened to slam, and more specifically, Devourment (already done an article on them).

In my mind, Mortician achieves its status as one of the heaviest bands for its sick guitar tone, breakdowns full of slams, and grooves. Songs such as Chainsaw Dismemberment, Zombie Apocalypse, and Human Puzzle showcase the groovy aspect of the band (these songs I can literally dance to), and songs such as Psychotic Rage, Brutal Disfigurement, and Redrum showcase the slamming breakdowns/passages. As touched upon earlier, the absurd gore/horror samples placed before or after almost every song also add to Mortician’s distinctive sound. It is a lot of fun to listen to the samples in full before each track because it provides the atmosphere that I love in music. This coupled with Will Rahmer’s vocals (which literally sounds like a monster amongst catacombs) makes Mortician one of my favorite bands ever. Essentially, this side of heavy metal is an acquired taste, but when the planets align, Mortician brings about a rush of emotions that is impossible for many to deduce, but luckily for me, I do have the pleasure of enjoying the art of brutal death metal. Br00tal \m/