Slowly stomping and pounding forth like a horde of zombies, London's Eternal Rot summon more death metal carnage with their third full-length, Moribound. Mixing death, doom, and vileness, this newest release continues Eternal Rot's rise (from the grave?) as a grimy powerhouse ready to blast filth through your speakers. A product of both Momento Mori and Goz Ov War, Moribound is available on all formats and even a few colors of vinyl. 

 

Spread over six tracks, Moribound perfectly captures the vile, trudging forth of impending zombie doom. Bolstered by an excellent Mark Riddick album cover, Eternal Rot's doom, gloom, and death lurches with an extra heavy pummeling, pounding, and persistent metal attack, built for both head banging and head nodding alike. Building mood and groove, Moribound takes the path of heavy and intense instead of fast and furious. Thickly built, the guitars work to frame the scene in a tight enclosure, then spread out to fill in the mix with a dark, heavy tone. Barely rising out of the muck like a boggy cryptid, the vocals are deep, distorted, and menacing, working perfectly with the abyssal guitars. To go along with this, the drums are solidly moving, keeping the pace for the album, albeit a little further back in the mix. Moribound takes a very upfront and straightforward approach, and the album benefits immensely from their no-bones about-it attitude. Not a minute is wasted on self-indulgence or fluff, and the album remains tight and lithe like a zombie's corpse.

 

Living up to its cover art, Eternal Rot's Moribound slowly ambles forward with heaviness and grime like an undead army coming through your speakers. Doom-laden and vile, Moribound is a very well-done album that bears repeated spins in this summer heat. What better to cool you down than a cold, rotting embrace from something 6 ft under?