Crucified Mortals

Ohio's Crucified Mortals take the best of '91 and '86 death metal and mix it together for a fun journey through all things Tom Warrior and Roadrunner Records (the former being'86, the latter '91, of course) on this, their first full-length after ten years of existence. Most of the songs fly past with little consequence, but tunes like "Resurrected Fiend" deliver the kind of adrenaline-pumping riffs and song structures that all the tech-death or gore-grind bands of today, great as some are, can never quite pull off. That's because of that aforementioned Celtic Frost touch, which translates to, shockingly, a bit of class, song structure and head banging goodness. It's tempting to just say, "move along, nothing to see here," but fuck that: there's plenty to see here. Songs like "Figure in Black" make me think of Slayer cassettes from decades past knockin' around with Asphyx coasters from a different decade past. This makes me, and any self-respecting metalhead, feel very, very good, even if just for a brief, fleeting moment.