Gloria Morti: Lateral Constraint

Hailing from Finland, a nation that has birthed many raging metal bands, Gloria Morti will appeal to those who like their death metal produced with a polish, and set about a firm melodic base. Neither as coarse as a fellow Finnish death metaller such as Desolate Shrine, nor as euphonious as present day Amorphis, Gloria Morti has plenty of barbs to its sound, and the band’s fourth full-length, Lateral Constraint, is a powerful album in terms of brute, thuggish strength.

Lateral Constraint is certainly Gloria Morti’s most engaging and personality-driven album thus far, which is crucial to the band finding a wider audience in a scene overflowing with similar acts. It features an impressive mix of the melodic and cacophonous, and has a trampling production, technical fills aplenty, and rousing keyboards at its backbone. Storming tracks such as “Sleep, Kill, Regress, Follow”, “Our God is War”, “Hallucinations” and “Slaves” batter and bludgeon, and while there’s nothing innovative in all the burnished riffing, blast-beats and gruff Amon Amarth-esque vocals, it’s delivered at a breakneck pace with abundant mass. Given that’s exactly what devotees of rapid-fire, strapping death metal seek, fans of such fare will find a lot to enjoy in Lateral Constraint.