Mortiis - Perfectly Defect (2010)

With his roots as bass player in the black metal band Emperor, Mortiis has come a long way over the years. From the first instrumental ambient/darkwave solo albums (as well as side projects Vond and Fata Morgana), to the synth pop/electro-industrial styling of 2001's The Smell of Rain (which saw Mortiis picking up the mic for the first time) and the harsher industrial rock of 2004's The Grudge (by which time "Mortiis" had turned into a full-blown band, rather than being the solo outfit of Håvard Ellefsen). It's now been three years since the release of Some Kind of Heroin, the remix version of The Grudge. During those years Mortiis (as a band) have been touring, working on new material and Mortiis (the frontman, Håvard) has shed the last parts of the mask he'd been wearing since way back in the day. In part as a gift to the fans, and (I suppose) in part as a teaser for the next full CD (The Great Deceiver, slated for an early 2011 release) Mortiis has released Perfectly Defect online.

Released as a free download (including full cover art), Perfectly Defect is described as a prelude, or bridge from The Grudge to The Great Deceiver. According to Mortiis the music on Perfectly Defect is work done during the sessions for The Great Deceiver, but which was too experimental and varied to be included on that album. Having listened to Perfectly Defect, as well as having heard some sneak material from The Great Deceiver, I'm inclined to agree. (Check out The Ugly Truth and Zeitgeist on Mortiis' YouTube channel, in particular The Ugly Truth have a strong Ministry-vibe to it.)

Perfectly Defect consist of 8 tracks with a running time just shy of 41 minutes. Four tracks feature vocals ("Closer to the End", "Perfectly Defect", "Sensation of Guilt" and "This Absolution") and four are instrumentals ("Sole Defeat", "Thieving Bastards", "Halo of Arms" and "Impossible to Believe"). The overall sound I think is closer to The Smell of Rain than The Grudge, in particular the first three songs - and especially "Sensation of Guilt" (which is also my favourite track on here, with its brooding, dusty atmosphere and what sounds almost like steel guitar?).

While it's not as aggressive as the The Grudge, it does have a similarily dirty sound and even though it comes off as more electro-industrial than industrial rock, the first couple of songs are pretty guitar driven. The instrumentals (as well as closing "This Absolution") recall Front Line Assembly when they're at their dirtiest, and there's quite a bit of drum & bass rhythms thrown in, which I really dig (even though it seems to be very much in vogue among industrial/electro-industrial acts at the moment, but hey, I don't mind). This is most evident on the aptly titled "Thieving Bastards" which sound not at all unlike The Prodigy and Chemical Brothers around '97.

It might be easy to disregard this as "just" a teaser for the upcoming "proper" album, especially since it was released for free and without any prior notice, but I think that would be a mistake. This is a great album, one which very much stands on its own. To my ears a fresh mix of electro-industrial/industrial rock with a lot of harsh electronica thrown in, sounding very much like Mortiis while still managing to evolve the sound further.

I absolutely loved The Smell of Rain when I first heard it, but I wasn't entirely floored by The Grudge when it came out, it was a bit too noisy and "punky" (it's grown a lot on me since though), and I was somewhat disappointed when I saw them live at the Wave Gotik Treffen in Leipzig in 2005. After having heard Perfectly Defect I'm very, very psyched about The Great Deceiver though.