Review: Mortuaire – Monde Vide

January 23, 2025

Mort Fatale

(This review was written by Stevo)

Hailing from Bordeaux, France comes a new death metal band in Mortuaire. The band consists of members from established acts in the French metal scene such as Year of No Light, The Great Old Ones and Monarch. Formed in 2021, their first taste came in the form of EP I in 2022. This displays their stab on the death metal sound in their first language taking inspiration from the likes of Autopsy, Entombed, Nihilist and Bolt Thrower. Now following on from the EP 3 years later comes their debut album, Monde Vide.

Monde Vide opens the record with Mauvais présage which demonstrates how tight the band can be with the way they can transition their pace smoothly. I like the way they switch around between a groovy passage to a fast machine-gun paced artillery of rage. The way they transition smoothly delivers fresh variety in their tracks throughout this album, especially as all the tracks are over 5 minutes long. There’s also the fresh inclusion of doom that fits the crushing atmosphere when you hear Mortuaire. “Pyramide d’or” shows off the punkier aspect to the sound in the similar vein to Bolt Thrower that ends in a sludgy doom-esque crescendo.

The vocals in this band display a good mix of harsh delivery throughout plus the occasional howls that doesn’t feel out of left field. Throughout this album, the band delivers a consuming atmosphere of despair while still changing things about whether it’s the groovy guitar riffs, the fast-paced drumming or the sense of rage in their vocals.

The title track, “Monde Vide” shows off the lingering Death/Doom side of the band more that would make fans of Mental Funeral-era Autopsy, Corrupted and Hooded Menace satisfied. “Tranchant” shows off an interesting mix of their groovier side and their Entombed- inspired side of their sound. Closing the album with “Octogone de fer” once again displays their doomier side of the band but doesn’t overdo themselves in that area as they add splashes of intensity that makes for a fitting closure.

Overall, Mortuaire delivers a good debut display of their own death metal sound. While it’s not the most unique sound in death metal, they put their take on it with its own French charm/anger. The addition of doom elements in this album which is a change from the EP fits in well without losing its intensity. The inclusion also helps deliver the variety especially with all the tracks being long. This prevented me losing my interest where it can be easy to feel like the songs are dragging itself out. I came out of this having a good time with this record and would certainly keep an eye on where this band can go next with the potential shown here.

Montuaire’s Monde Vide gets a