Review: Gloria Morti- Lateral Constraint

Hey guys! I hope your week was good, mine was, I was very excited to finally get my two Metal Blade preorders in the mail.  I got Carnage, Slaughter, and Death by Zombified and Lateral Constraint by Gloria Morti.  The second of which I will be reviewing today, the Zombified review will come tomorrow.

Before this year I did not know who or what Gloria Morit was, that was until I saw a video on my YouTube feed for the song "Sleep, Kill, Regress, Follow" and decided to click on it.  What I was met with at first was a mellow acoustic guitar that seems to hypnotize the unsuspecting listener in until about 30 seconds in when the band proceeds to punch you in the face with their brand of extreme Finnish death metal.  It did not take me long to get excited about this album and I could not wait to hear the rest of the album. 

Now some of you may know this but Lateral Constraint was actually released last year in Europe on the label Cyclone Empire, but if my memory serves me Metal Blade has a partnership with this label and they release some of their old releases in the US, this is one of those releases (another one being the new Zombified).  That did not change anything for me, in my mind it is still a 2013 release and a release that supports the argument that metal releases for 2013 are off to a great start.

After I preordered the album I could only really listen to the video for "Sleep, Kill, Regress, Follow" until a) the album got here or b) they released a new video, well before option (a) could be granted Metal Blade released the studio video for the song "Slaves".  "Slaves" only got me more excited for the album.  On this track, as with most of the tracks on Lateral Constraint, Gloria Morti wastes little to no time grabbing your attention with their music.  "Slaves" starts with an all out death metal attack, wickedly fast drums, thick guitars, thumping bass, and the brutal vocals are just the icing on the cake. 

Gloria Morti's vocalist, Psycho, does something that I really like to see from an extreme metal vocalist.  Sure Psycho's growls are just as brutal as some of the heavy hitters in today's extreme metal, but what sets Psycho's vocals apart from the others is that they are fairly easy to understand.  I like finding a vocalist that can produce growls that sound like they have been trained in the pits of hell, but I also want to be able to understand their lyrics without having constantly looking them up and that is what Psycho delivers on Lateral Constraint. 

Another thing that sets Lateral Constraint apart from other modern extreme metal is the sound the instrumentalists produce.  Gloria Morti's produces one of the fullest sounds I have ever heard in metal.  At first listen the sound reminded me a bit of Scar Symmetry, but without the clean vocals on top. 

Now this being the first Gloria Morti CD I have listened to, I don't have really anything to compare it to, but I will say this, it will make you want to dive deeper into this band and explore their previous works (if anyone knows where I can find their previous three CDs please let me know!). 

In conclusion, Lateral Constraint is a must for any fan of extreme metal.  From the catchy, and addictive rhythms of "Lex Parismoniae" to the hypnotic guitar on "Sleep, Kill, Regress, Follow", Gloria Morti has released an all out death metal assault, one that will leave you broken, beat, and scared (and probably with a bang over), but will make you want to listen over and over again.

Overall Rating: 9/10

Thanks guys!
-Zach

Ps if there is a band you want me to talk about or an album you want me to review, tweet me @zachktheanimal or leave a comment below!