Album Review: Fit for the Dead by Mount Slatra
Debut albums reveal character fast. Mount Slatra’s reveals a band who arrived at their first full length already knowing what they want to say and how to say it, which puts them ahead of most. Signed to Germany’s Witches Brew Records and working with producer Matthew Jones, whose previous work with Dakesis speaks for itself, the band have turned an already promising live reputation into a record that demands serious attention.
The album opens with Dharmata, an unsettling ambient piece that channels David Lynch more than it does any thrash precedent, before 5×5 arrives and removes any sense of ease. Based on the tap code used by American POWs in Vietnam, it is thematically bolder than anything the band have previously released. The title track follows with six minutes of weight and craft, recalling the British war poets in its attention to what conflict actually costs. George North’s balladic solo in its mid section is the finest thing he has committed to tape.
Age of Industrial takes a deliberate left turn into Black Sabbath territory and is better for it, while Cryptocracy goes further still, pulling in Middle Eastern tonality and progressive rhythmic structures that would not be out of place on a Gojira record. The standout, however, is Radio Mercy, which features guest vocals from Hannah Law. A moody, female fronted ballad that sits somewhere between Fade to Black and Evanescence, it is the kind of track that broadens an audience without compromising the band’s identity. Law is exceptional throughout and deserves to be heard far beyond this record.
Jones’s production is crisp and muscular without losing the grit. Aaron Watkins has made an immediate impact on bass, his parts creative and well considered rather than merely functional. Siege Eternal closes proceedings with Slayer-ish ferocity, and for a moment you wish there were more to come. That, ultimately, is the album’s only real shortcoming.
By Neil Warrington