Mordhell - Satanic Wombs

MORDHELL - Satanic Wombs (FALLEN TEMPLE - CD 2022)

Two years after “Graveyard Fuck” album and “Under the White Flame” 4-way split were released, Mordhell are back with another recording. Praised be the Satan whores! Technically, this new shit is also an album, but to be honest, the content is more suitable for an EP or something like that. Nevermind. I don’t really care, call it as you like. I also don’t think that Mordhell was ever a band, which would be high in my Polish black metal ranking – if there ever was one. They were always decent band (interview in my old zine was done back in 2004 or around that time already!), but that’s it. I don’t even listen to their music so often. And “Satanic Wombs” definitely won’t change that, especially that this album really feels like a less interesting and forgettable piece of music, even when compared to the previous Mordhell releases. There's just nothing on it what would really catch my attention. 

Such necro, simplistic, raw and obscure black metal is obviously fun to listen to, especially if I am in a shitty mood. Or if I get drunk – which doesn’t happen that often anymore. Mordhell with their primitive music is certainly close to the essence of mid-era Darkthrone’ish black metal, with a hint of Carpathian Forest, all spiced with sort of punkish attitude. And it’s quite cool, especially if you think how rare such music can sometimes be and how far has black metal went away from its roots in general. This is the best aspect of what Mordhell represents. And the music? It is obviously nothing special, but it doesn’t mean it is completely useless. Some great, almost catchy riffs, a nice necro, grim atmosphere, fuck off towards everything... On “Satanic Wombs” even the “artwork” and CD layout – which are the most simplistic and primitive I’ve probably ever seen – will tell you that Mordhell doesn’t give a damn about everything. Well, but I prefer my fancy looking gatefold vinyl with booklets and other shit hah! 

The problem with “Satanic Wombs” is that there are basically just five short songs... and the rest of the album are covers. And if Bathory (“The Rite of Darkness” from the second album) and Darkthrone (“Det svartner na” from “Hate Them”) covers are pretty good and suitable to the rest of the music, then “Tomhet” from the infamous Burzum repertoire is just strange. I suppose it was meant to give an extra attention and controversy to “Satanic Wombs”, but it didn’t work for me, I just skip that boring crap every time I play that fuckin CD. So, taking the whole content of this album, it is rather difficult to give it a fair verdict. I'm in a good mood though, so 69 seems like a proper number for Mordhell. 

Verdict: 69/100