Review by Sonny for Decayed - Resurrectiónem Mortuórum (1996)

RYM has got nearly sixty thousand black metal releases catalogued, so a perfectly valid question would be "Why the hell should I listen to Resurrectiónem Mortuórum when there is so much other stuff to check out?" Well, I would honestly have to reply "If you just want to hear some kick-ass black metal then there is no reason at all for you to listen to it particularly." That said, though, if you are interested in the development of black metal and especially in countries not considered hotbeds of the form, then there may be something of interest for you here.

Decayed are from Lisbon in Portugal, forming in 1990 and still going to this day, which is no mean feat I suppose, yet have never really made much of a splash in the wider world of black metal, at least as far as I am aware. Resurrectiónem Mortuórum was their second album, released in 1996, and from the sound of it the band members were well aware of leading lights of the Norwegian scene such as Emperor, Dimmu Borgir and Immortal. They play medium-paced black metal in the main, with embellishments such as keyboards and the odd female vocal accompaniment. There is a reasonable amount of variety on offer so things don't get too stale too quickly and in addition to the more recognisable mid-nineties black metal of tracks like Darkness Falls or the pummelling Archdemon there is the gothic metal-sounding City of the Horned One, the haunting synth and spoken word of By the Candlelight or the black'n'roll of the band's reasonable cover of Venom's Countess Bathory.

The playing feels quite sloppy at times, the solo during the Emperor-like Thy Summoning sounds poorly executed and the drums in particular sound like crap and when they aren't performing blastbeats they are as dull as dishwater. Yet, even after saying that, there was something that kept pulling me back in. The vocals are pretty decent and are of the gruff shrieking style I quite enjoy and bassist/vocalist João Fonseca (who was guitarist for Moonspell for a couple of years in the mid-nineties) puts in a good performance throughout. The riffs aren't bad and do stick in the memory after a couple of listens and the synths add some nice touches to the overall atmosphere, being used subtly enough not to sound cheesy.

So to answer your hypothetical question from the start of my review, there is no particular reason to listen to Resurrectiónem Mortuórum and it will never top anyone's list of favourite black metal albums, but then again, neither is there a reason not to.