Just a few months ago, I received their first ep (released in 2011) and it impressed me a lot in a very positive way. That was so true that when I received this new ep, I put it almost immediately to play. And I was really right to do that, because their music stunned me again me for its fury, creativity, intensity and extremely well structured  black metal, something many clone bands should remember when doing their new albums. Anyway, for my sadness, they also commited the same “failure” of their first release: there are only three scarce tracks here! Of course, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go for it, but with such a quality, Deus Mortem would be better appreciated with a full length, drinking some beers or smoking some weed, since their brand of black metal is deeply hypnotic!

But let’s go to the tracks, starting from the end (for no special reason, I admit, hahaha!): the last track, which I loved most, called “Olam haBeriah”, is a typical black/doom track, perfectly performed to create that melancholic and gloomy atmosphere, though it also has a great speed blast-beating part at the middle, soon replaced by an agonizing and sluggish mood, which grows up in a magnificent crescendo till the end...simply awesome and scary! Its mood is perfect and certainly not easy to digest. If you want to feel it wholly, you must really let your mind bravely float in the wild waves of the unknown, what is only for a few people in this world.

The second track opens with a choir singing in a dramatic tone, setting up a ritualistic feature and soon falls into a pure Bathory-esque beat, surely exciting the evil souls to surround your mind during its almost ten minutes of suffering and despair. Surely, with such a long structure, you surely imagine that they bring a lot of variations throughout the track and this is totally true, proving they are also high-skilled musicians. Musicality isn’t always the most important aspect in a metal band, but certainly it counts a lot when you need to explore the creativity and penetrate deeply in the mind and soul of the listener. Not at random, the title of the track is “Penetrating the veils of negativity”, which is totally appropriate. The song itself is a deep dive into the realms of emptiness and all its variations seem to guide the human soul into the chaos of existence. It’s fucking great, to sum it up.

The first song, called “The higher sun”, starts with a short intro and goes into a noisy speed music that, at first, reminded me of the Brazilian Bode Preto (by the way, not only this song, but some parts have the same approach to black metal used by Bode Preto in leads, riffs and general atmosphere). This is also the shortest song here, but the more violent, keeping the high pace up to the end. Despite all the violence, it is possible to notice the same richness of the other tracks, both in the musical and the lyrical aspects, showing a very intelligent band that I hope other people around the world have the opportunity to listen to.

Well, I could talk much more about them, but as they make music for intelligent headbangers, I’m sure you’ll be able to get all these great features I mentioned and much more, because Deus Mortem is one of the richest black metal bands I’ve heard recently. So, if you want to listen to something fresh, although still loyal to the genre, original and creative, this band is for you. Congratulations for this work, Deus Mortem!

Cristiano Passos