I was totally blown away and floored at the same time by Blood Mortized's self-titled debut in 2009, as was just about every person I played it for. In the creation of this ep, the band believes that they have topped their first album. I'm inclined to agree. Before, they had the sound of Sweden from 1990 and 1991. This time, you can add 1988 and 1989 to those years as well. That would have been back in the formative years of both Dismember and Nihilist, for those keeping score. While Bloodbath are garnering the most attention in the "return to the beginning" death metal scene, it's really only because of who is in the band combined with the label push. If you take both of those factors out of the equation and listen to the music on its own merits, I'd have to say that Blood Mortized are better. All three songs here are awesome, but it's the closer, "Rekviem" that really evokes the old morbid, decaying feeling that is the heart and soul of Swedish death metal. The only real fault here is that this is only three tracks. Suffice to say, this is a mandatory purchase. The only question you'll have is what format to pick it up on, as the band plans for it to be out on tape, vinyl and CD.
