Artist: Mortify
Country: Japan
Label: Obliteration Records
Formats: CD
Year: 2026
With nearly ten years and just as many releases under their belt, Mortify is, of course, no longer a new name to the seasoned Death/Grind fan. The Japanese band has also featured on these pages several times before, and although this style of music isn’t the main focus here, we certainly aren’t averse to it, especially when it’s executed as skilfully as Mortify do. If, by any chance, you’ve never heard Mortify before, with record titles such as ‘Stench Of Swedish Buzzsaw’, ‘Grotesque Buzzsaw Defilement’ or ‘Buzzsaw Sickness’, they certainly don’t make it difficult for potential listeners: you know exactly what to expect.
This latest release, their second full-length album, is in no way different from anything that has come before. Appropriately titled ‘Buzzsaw Ritual’, this is yet another album brimming with riffs featuring the characteristic HM2 sound, with the band firmly positioning themselves between Carcass on the one hand and Entombed/Dismember on the other. It is therefore impossible to write a review without mentioning bands such as Necrony and General Surgery, two acts to which Mortify undeniably bear the closest resemblance. The buzzing guitar sound, the rumbling bass and the gurgling vocals: it’s all there, skilfully woven together into solid tracks that really stick in your head. At just under 20 minutes, ‘Buzzsaw Ritual’ is, of course, (once again) on the short side, but that certainly shouldn’t spoil the fun. This sort of music always works best in smaller doses anyway. Nor should the excellent production go unmentioned; it ensures that everything sounds pleasantly rich whilst retaining the necessary rough edges. Mortify may be just a tad less convincing than their compatriots Pharmacist, but ‘Buzzsaw Ritual’ will still satisfy fans of, for example, Exhumed, Haemorrhage, Dead Infection or the old Razorback Records catalogue.
