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This is a new project by a couple of the guys from the now-disbanded Lunar Aurora, so it should be no surprise that it's being released by the same Cold Dimensions label that just put out LA's last disc. I got both together, and at first blush I thought this was not quite as good as Lunar Aurora's excellent Andacht, but to be sure, I gave it some time to sink in, which I am glad I did.

Unlike the slightly folky vibe of Lunar Aurora, the elaborately named Mortuus Infradaemoni are all about badass old-school Scandinavian Black Metal. It would be easy to make dismissive comparisons to Enthroned or Eld-era Enslaved, and to an extent these would be true. But MI are obviously so very serious about what they are doing, that they demand serious attention. They put a lot more layers into their music than is usual with this kind of Black Metal, resulting in much more texture and shading to the songs. Their riffs are also much more varied and advanced than the standard two-note-tremolo style so prevalent among second-wave wanna-be bands. Undoubtedly the long experience of the band members at their craft has a lot to do with the maturity of the songwriting and the complexity of the playing. But this is also a deliberately more stripped-down and vicious affair than the more artful Lunar Aurora, and fans of relentless Black Metal in the spirit of the early 90's should not pass this one up. It takes more listens to get into this, but that is time well spent. Recommended.