Rating: 8.0

Country: Italy

Genre: Old School Death Metal

Record Label: Gentle Exhuming Records

Release Date: 2008

Track list:
1. Back to the lombrosary (intro)
2. Repulsive retaliation
3. Homopedophile
4. Season of survival
5. Seeds of impurity
6. Frightening countries
7. Abortive foetus disposal

Total playing time 22:28

Band Website: Mortal Fungus

Mortal Fungus - Back to the Lombrosary

Frank Wells - Bass, Vocals
AndreaS - Lead Guitar
Udo Usvardi - Rhythm Guitar
Joutsen - Drums

Italian band Mortal Fungus existed way back in 1991 but managed to produce only a couple of demo tapes before they disbanded in 1994. With a new line-up, Fungus reappeared in 1998 and have since been consistently dispersing their poisonous music in the underground. Back to the Lombrosary is their first full-fledged release albeit still a short one and I think you guys deserve to know more about it.

Post perfunctory sweet old school intro song, the music embarks on a trip down memory lane at an upbeat mid-paced trot akin to Celtic Frost but with a deathly pallor - in other words, like the embittered Dutch heroes Asphyx/Soulburn whose ill-famed riffs tend to have a direct effect on the gut and when heard by an incontinent old school death metal fan such as myself, its contents are bound to be forcibly expelled from your body. It is sometimes succeeded by an “Oooaah!” sound usually out of sheer relief or excitement, which in this case is uttered on your behalf by Frank Wells, whose vocals range from sounding like a certain Kam Lee to a gentleman in perpetual pain, Patrick Mameli of Pestilence. The music gets faster in the next frighteningly titled song "Homopedophile", which is strongly reminiscent of the chunky and highly enjoyable band Massacre. Identical shouts and solos go up in the song too and so do your hands in joy. In "Season of Survival", after moving about unassumingly through the classic passages of Massacre and Cancer, the music leads to a killer and tenaciously catchy riff resembling a particular one on Pestilence's Testimony of the Ancients. "Seeds of Impurity" is a breezy thrashy song that features an agonising Obituary breakdown in the middle that is followed by a flurry of sweet leads. "Frightening Countries" opens in the grand style of Obituary circa The End Complete and is very delightful indeed. See, Mortal Fungus don't stick around playing the same good riff over and over again till it loses its charm; instead with a boisterous thrash spirit, they go about exploring without haste the influences of mostly the classic US bands of the early ‘90s. In the last song they exhibit the eerier side of their music and its unmistakable influence by the Scandinavian bands of yore. All through the album the production remains pleasing because of its humble yet strong organic values and is way more effective than what you would normally expect from such an unknown band.

Back to the Lombrosary is thoroughly unoriginal but thoroughly entertaining. More than once I have forgotten my role as a reviewer while listening to their music. It just made me too nostalgic of the times when I used sit listening to death metal untainted by trends on re-re-recorded tapes with a xeroxed lyrics sheet in my hand to sing along with it. This is death metal of an era when playing fast, brutal or technical music didn't matter and just good, honest music did. If you know what I am talking about, reach out and pull this band out of obscurity – Mortal Fungus are too good to remain down there.

August 20th, 2008