Mortification - The Silver Cord is Severed (2001)
Mortification continue down the evangelical metal road with the latest installment to their ever growing library of music. My count has this as the 15th cd Mortification has released in their 10+ year career.
Definitely making them one of the hardest working
bands in metal! "The Silver Cord is Severed" is one of their best efforts to date. Steve Rowe has made an even more marked return to his "power metal" roots
by continuing in the style set forth on cd's like "Blood World", "Hammer Of God" and "EnVision Evangeline", and this time they have went a step even further by changing the now famous Mortification
logo, making it to have a more "metallic" appearance. Yes, gone are the days of brutal death metal but fans of that style should still be able to find something to enjoy here also as Steve utilizes a few of his old
growling technics at times. For the most part this is mid-paced, thrash influenced, classic metal similar in style to bands like Iron Maiden. There are a few speed parts here and there and also a couple of slower doom segments
(which I just love!) in songs like the Black Sabbath and Trouble inspired "Hardware" and the title track. New drummer, 15 year old Adam Zafferese brings some new blood into the mix and ocassionaly whips up a few tribal
beats, all the while showing he can more than compete with the big boys! Adams playing is nothing short of amazing. It seems that Lincoln's guitar playing is more diverse and technical than on previous Mort recordings also as he is
using more styles and sounds than before making each song on this album stand out on its own. The true sound of Mortification is hard to describe in words as there is a blending of many metal styles, but to use just one word I
would simply say "metal". This was recorded in Steve's "Hammer of God" studio and the production is great! There is one thing I miss however from the cd "Hammer Of God", and that is the use of the
keyboards. I really enjoyed that extra atmosphere that was produced by the keys (but then again I am a big fan of power metal with keys!). As always the lyrics are bold and Christ centered. This, in my opinion, is a must have cd!
-- Review by Norm