Every once in a while, a classic band reforms. A small outfit from the backwoods of nowhere releases a demo that receives very little circulation. The band breaks up (probably for some totally metal reason like the bassist just sacrificed and ate the drummer's mother as an offering to Baal or something), and the demo gains cult status due to the notoriety or just the plain ferocity of it. Fifteen years later, the bassist gets out of jail, the drummer is now a born again Christian and forgives him, and so they decide as a group of middle aged losers with more hair on their backs than their heads to try and relive the glory days of youth. They release new material that is met with universal praise from the entire metal community. Their integrity is restored and they lived happily ever after in the frostbitten North, in the most desolate, most undeniably metal area ever seen.
Mortal Fungus is not one of these bands.
These Italian death metallers had apparently released some infamous demos back in the nineties, although there is no information anywhere do describe why they are so notorious. This debut "full length", although much more an EP in actuality, brings nothing new to the table and the blandness of the music is hardly made up for with intensity. This is pretty much straight up death metal, through and through. There are moments of songs like "Seeds of Impurity" and "Homopedophile" that pick up the pace and remind you of how Death Metal is supposed to make you react. Nobody wants to hear a style of music as visceral and abrasive as death metal and yet only bob their head to the beat. Hell no, death metal should make you jump out of your seat and punt a baby. And while half of the songs on Back to the Lombrosary indeed get the job done, there are still a few too many sections that do little more than drive the song forward lazily with a half-assed groove. Luckily, it seems like every track with one of these pointless, plodding sections (namely "Repulsive Retaliation"), also seems to sport a fantastic solo. The leads here are nothing fancy, no four finger tapping while sweeping bollocks, but they are fast, ferocious, and accommodating. And that, my friends, is exactly what is needed. Nothing more, nothing less.
I think it also bears mentioning that the backing vocals are extremely fucking annoying. "Season of Survival" is a fantastic example. Between every single growled line is a retarded sounding yell that not only doesn't fit the song, but it sounds about as good as Brian Peppers looks. It may only really surface in one or two songs, but it's enough to actually ruin the enjoyment of that particular track. Then again, I'm just picky sometimes.
In the end though, you could do much worse than Back to the Lombrosary. Mortal Fungus churned out six tracks of simple, old school death metal, and that's really all one can ask for nowadays. It isn't littered with breakdowns or superfluous noodling like so many modern acts. While I actually enjoy many of these modern tech death acts, an old school pummeling like this is most welcome. Even though there are a few parts that, frankly, bore the shit out of me (like the end of "Abortive Foetus Disposal"), the high octane numbers do more than enough to make up for it.
RATING - 68%
Originally written for http://www.metalcrypt.com
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