BACKYARD MORTUARY - Lure of the Occult

After 10 years of being together, Australia's Backyard Mortuary released their full-length album "Lure of the Occult" in 2012. This as definitely an album which got me back into wanting to write up album reviews again whether anyone reads these or not. For a while there wasn't much new music getting me excited as it did back in the day, so to have an album like "Lure of the Occult" come across my earholes and make me feel the way that it did I instantly was hooked to its down-tuned, raw sound.

You could say the band really doesn't bring anything new to the death metal table, but sometimes that's just what you need from an artist, especially if they've been around long enough to release an album as crushing as this one. The band definitely displays an Incantation influence as well as the typical Morbid Angel sound, but this band delivers a few black metal punches throughout as well reminiscent of Carpathian Forest. Whether they're influenced by these bands or not, it comes across in the sound...and that's not a bad thing.

Highlight tracks in my opinion start with the title track, "Lure of the Occult". Its slow, plodding death metal drag is the perfect example of what an old-school death metal album should encompass. "Beyond the Grave" is a catchy, fast song heavy on blasts and double bass. The vocals sound like they were recorded in a dank dungeon near the opening of Hell. My favorite song though would have to be "Macabre Butchery". It has all the elements that you could ask for - a fast opening, blast beats, catchy riffs, and more cavernous vocals. The whole album delivers though. If ever an album sounded rotted, this one falls under that description well.

It's sad to see this band has split. I would love to see what these guys and gal could have done with another full-length.