MORDAX – Violence Fraud Tragedy
- by Matt Coe
- Posted on 13-03-2012
Hailing from Copenhagen, Denmark, Mordax know how to assemble their style of thrash/death metal in such a way to be catchy, melodic, and addictive without pandering to commercialized hooks or throwaway groove parts. Songs like “Trademark: Strangulation”, the slither snake crawling “Monarch Of All” or triplet fest “No Redeemer” will evoke strains of Artillery, Heathen, early Metallica, Znowhite, and early Sepultura. Vocalist Asbjorn Steffensen channels a clearer Chuck Schuldiner with the personality of Tom G. Warrior during Celtic Frost’s heyday- adding his own evil fervor to best effect on the Bay Area-like “Acts Of Aggression”.
It may not be the easiest form of thrash with death inflection to write and execute, but “Violence Fraud Tragedy” succeeds due to its attention to detail. As such, I would put this in the upper tier of releases for the genre in 2012.