Mortician

Three years after their Relapse swan song Darkest Day of Horror, New York "manglecore” mavens Mortician return with Re-animated Dead Flesh, their first studio album for their own label Mortician Records, following last year’s spectacular live disc Zombie Massacre Live. Fans can expect more of Will Rahmer’s unbelievably fuzzy bass riffs, ultra-guttural vocals and spastic drum machine. Drawing from a seemingly endless catalogue of B to Z-grade horror movies, the band once again sample obscure slasher flicks, with the most recognisable films book ending the album. Opener "Werewolves Curse” begins with an immediately memorable sample from An American Werewolf in London, and closer "Be My Victim” boasts famous soliloquies from Tony Todd, the hook-handed killer in Candyman. Mexican gore-fest Night of the Bloody Apes and the Friday the 13th rip-off Madman get equal treatment introducing "Human Beasts” and "Madman Marz,” respectively. Driven by inhuman drum fills, "Bloodsoaked Carnage,” "Skinned,” "Torn Apart” and "Burned Alive” all clock in at under a minute, but longer tracks like "Unseen Force of Death,” "Axe” and the title track give guitarist Roger Beaujard extra time to stretch out his cleaver-sharp riffs for maximum carnage. There’s little variation in the band’s time-proven formula, but it’s highly doubtful that true Mortician aficionados would want their favourite death metal any other way.