Monday, December 14, 2009

Mortal - "Wake"


Mortal - Wake
1994, Intense

1. Paradigm One
2. June First
3. Mother's Day
4. Vial
5. Speed of Sound
6. Filter
7. Oceanful
8. Serpent-Teen
9. Moons & Suns
10. Fall
11. Sold
12. God of 3 Strings
13. Nowhere Man
14. To My Darling Whipporwill

I remember reading some interviews of these guys back around this period. They were saying that they'd taken industrial as far as they could and that guys like Scott Albert (Circle of Dust) could take it further. Then we get Wake, which is not industrial at all but alt-rock...scratch that... it's Mortal doing it's best Nirvana impression. It didn't really work for me when it first came out. I remember liking "June First" and "Mother's Day" and I still like them. The rest of the songs are okay but Mortal really excells at ballads. "Speed of Sound" is an enchanting little tune that reminds me a lot of "Bleeder" from the Brow Beat comp. It's so weird because the electric songs are so forgettable but I LOVE the ballads here.

Useless Fact: "Nowhere Man" is a Beatles cover. Also, after this record the band broke up and reformed several times. Each time they said that "God told them" to break up. Uh... okay.

2 comments:

  1. This is the only Mortal album I own (or have even heard, for that matter). I love it! I love the dreamy melodies and harmonies mixed with the heavy guitars. I dig the slow songs. I dig the faster songs. I like everything except "To My Darling Whipporwill" -- which, like "In Death We Rise", by Tourniquet, just seems kind of pointless (but at least they kept it relatively short). I'm also not real crazy about their cover of The Beatles' "Nowhere Man", but I don't dislike it (it's just a little to revrently rendered).

    I think some of the songs kind of have a Radiohead sound (in a good way).

    "God told them to break up"? Really?!? So God is like a cosmic Yoko Ono? Bummer.

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  2. Yeah... I read that in a couple articles when different albums came out. "God told us to breakup" ... then all of a sudden they'd have a new album out.

    I understand that it's hard to hear God. That's why I just DO the stuff I think he's telling me without telling everybody God told me to. Makes it easier on all of us if I'm wrong.

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