MORTIFY (CI) – ‘Fragments at the Edge of Sorrow’ CD Digipack

Hailing from the city of Concepción, Chile’s MORTIFY formed in 2013. Since their inception through the present, the band has been influenced by various bands associated with the death metal genre, such as Exmortis (USA), Pestilence, Gorguts, Obituary, Edge of Sanity, and Death among others. MORTIFY’s brand-new second album, Fragments at the Edge of Sorrow, should surely put the Chileans on the wider international metal map. A conceptual album that invites the listener to travel through different sound passages, Fragments at the Edge of Sorrow shows MORTIFY expanding their already-considerable arsenal: songwriting that’s slippery and surging in equal measure, disarmingly enunciated vocals and instrumental work – especially real, actual bass-playing – and a commitment to pushing progressive death metal into realms more mesmerizing and memorable. Indeed, it’s that lattermost element where MORTIFY most impress here, never sacrificing hook or heaviness in favor of flashy displays of virtuosity (although those still exist, always in service of the song) and altogether displaying a narrative aspect to that songwriting. Incredibly dynamic despite being undeniably death metal, Fragments at the Edge of Sorrow shows evinces power and poignancy at every turn, even when those turns take quieter, eerily peaceful detours.