Deus Mortem - Demons of Matter and the Shells of the Dead

DEUS MORTEM - Demons of Matter and the Shells of the Dead (MALIGNANT VOICES - LP 2017)

Deus Mortem is definitely one of the leading Polish black metal bands, in my opinion, and this EP "Demons of Matter and the Shells of the Dead" is a fantastic continuation of "Emanations of the Black Light", but even better! 

There are only three songs here, but each is a fuckin killer. It starts with "The Higher Sun", which is a short, but very fast, vicious and aggressive black metal piece that immediately sets the hateful and truly malicious aura in the music. When I hear it, I immediately have Thunderbolt in my mind, which is obviously not a coincidental comparison. Deus Mortem is for me a great descendant of Thunderbolt!!! But the best on this EP comes with "Penetrating the Veils of Negativity". This song is near ten minutes long and is very diverse piece, full of great riffs, ideas and atmosphere. First off, it contains some more atmospheric, yet very harsh and obscure black metal parts, all in the traditional second wave style. But along slower parts, there's also a lot of the aggressive and savage, fierce black metal attack. It all just sounds excellent, I dare to say it’s one of the best black metal songs from the Polish scene ever composed. 

Finally "Olam haBeriah" comes and it is again slower piece. I think it's the most memorable song from this EP, there's great dark aura in it, even some keyboards were used in the background, a fine melodic guitar lines... It's absolutely great track, very opposite to the ferocity of opening song, but it sounds awesome. It confirms that Deus Mortem feels comfortable in this harsh, aggressive black metal, but is not limited to just one type of playing. Which is also why "Demons of Matter and the Shells of the Dead" is such a good EP, I like it even more than Deus Mortem's debut album. Killer. 

Standout track: "Penetrating the Veils of Negativity" 

Verdict: 85/100