They know how to make heavy Death Metal in California. And when they want a notch down on the heaviness, they go to Greg Wilkerson and his Earhammer Studios, which is a mecca for brutal and relentless heaviness. MORTUOUS is a quite new band, made up of some of the old boys of the scene. Colin Tarvin is handling the guitars, Col Jones is punishing the drums, Mike Beams is wrecking guitars and doing some growls, and since the recording of the release (I am in the middle of reviewing), bassist Clint Roach has joined the ranks, together with skinbasher Chad Gailey (NECROT, RUDE, ex – VASTUM), as Col Jones is on a hiatus. Since the recording of  "Demo 2012" (which this is a vinyl release of), growler Alex Tarwin-Tabler and four-stringer Nick Sunshine have both left he band. You might recognize Col Jones and Mike Beams from their days in EXHUMED and a few other well-known entities within Death Metal and Colin Tarvin from a few projects, that never got much further than the demos. Though now it seems like he has found the blueprints for madness and hammering Death Metal. As written, this is the vinyl version of MORTUOUS’ "Demo 2012", but damn it sounds fresh. Heavy and crunching chainsaw guitars, put into an universe of controlled chaos, crushing basslines, thundering drumming and growls from deep deep below. A god mix of mid-paced to doomy parts, to blasting vorices, all set up intelligently and quite catchy. The songwriting is really great, and ensures that the listener is caught by the first riffing, and the intensity and energy, together with the shifts between crushing darkness and frantic madness, keeps the interest aflame. Quite classic heavy and crushing Death Metal done and performed really well and intense. If this doesn’t catch on to you, well… Now the guys just need to up the ante, and get some new material recorded, so we can get some more great music to ‘bang our heads to! Did I mention the cover artwork? I guess I didn’t, though I should, as it is utterly amazing and fitting! Feel the darkness at the following sites: www.facebook.com/pages/mortuous/117734498300931, http://mortuousdeath.bandcamp.com, www.dawnbreed.com