Mortification - "Blood World"

Mortification - Blood World

1994/2008 Metal Mind

1. Clan of the Light

2. Blood World

3. Starlight

4. Your Life

5. Monks of the High Lord

6. Symbiosis

7. Love Song

8. Live By the Sword

9. J.G.S.H.

10. Dark Allusions

Bonus Tracks:

11. Altar of God (Studio)

12. New Beginnings (Live)

13. Blood World (Live)

14. Entering the Eternal Dawn (Studio)

Mortification got a lot of guff for this disc when it originally came out. The Intense Records cover had the tamed logo. There were simpler song titles like "Your Life," "Starlight," and "Love Song." The liner notes were handwritten, which was something just about every alternative band was doing at the time. Oh, and let's not forget that Steve relies on his clean vocals for most of the album. Like I said, they got a lot of guff and I was one of the guff givers. When I first heard this I thought it was kind of a sellout and as a result Blood World never ranked among my favorite albums. However, a couple years ago I downloaded the track "Blood World" off Limewire (don't tell Steve!) and it was a lot better than I remembered. So when it came time to fill out my Morty CD collection I took a chance and bought this reissue. I can now say that it is by no means a sellout. Actually it's a natural evolution from the sound the band refined on Post Momentary Affliction. Jayson Sherlock is gone but Phil Gibson is a suitable replacement - doesn't quite have that Sherlock flair but not many drummers do. Michael Carlisle is still around (though this is his last disc) to give the tracks some old school death metal flair. The songs themselves lean more toward thrash this time around and "Your Life" has a cool groove section. It sounds a lot heavier than it did before but I think that's because of the remastering on this edition. They've also spelled all the songs correctly and used the cooler Nuclear Blast cover art. The extra tracks are quite enjoyable, especially "Entering the Eternal Dawn" but I'm not sure why they put "Altar of God" on here. Isn't that from Relentless? Anyway, I am enjoying this disc so much more these days. It's a fine addition to the Mortification collection!

Useless Fact: There's a studio version of "Symbiosis" on here. Given that Michael Carlisle thanks both Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , I'm almost positive he got the idea from this song from Deep Space Nine. Maybe someone can confirm it...