MORTA La España negra (digipack) [CD]

SIGNAL REX is proud to present the highly anticipated debut album of Spain’s MORTA, La España negra, on CD, vinyl LP, and cassette tape formats.

One of the black metal underground’s best-kept secrets, MORTA first fully arose from the crypt with SIGNAL REX’s release of their debut EP, Fúnebre. Banging 'n' clanging anguish echoing from the filthiest dungeons, the then-trio’s first short-length succinctly displayed their palpably physical – and surprisingly emotive – attack across nearly a half-hour. In a sense, Fúnebre felt like an album, but such was still brewing…

At long last, MORTA’s debut album bubbles up from the primordial muck with no small amount of rudeness: La España negra. Pure and proud BLACK METAL from southern climes, MORTA’s first full-length carries forward many/most of its predecessors’ foremost strengths – deft shifts from spiralingly violent hypnosis to scabrously headbanging segments, a remorselessly raw-yet-refined soundfield, ugly and emotional in equal measure – but a relatively wider (and wilder) swath of ideas and textures are given ample room to roam across this 39-minute recording. Just like that predecessor, La España negra resides firmly within the realm of black metal, be it elder expressions from the ‘90s and underground-entrenched ones post-Y2K; the now-quartet honor the sanctity of the artform by exploring their own vibrations rather than those of others. But within a longer format and maximizing that expanded lineup, MORTA often allow bass guitar to guide their eerily hummable melodicism – again, one could liken that to a romanticism unique to their Spanish heritage – and even when pushing busier, denser tonalities, there’s a perversely ethereal quality that creates a cool disconnect. Their dungeons are deeper than ever, and the reverberations go straight to the soul…

Forever champions of Southern European black metal aristocracy, SIGNAL REX are honored to foster the gangrenous growth of MORTA and spread the spell of La España negra.