ALL FLESH IS GRASS

On All Flesh Is Grass Madder Mortem takes a huge leap into more proggy territories, absorbing influences reminding me of Voivod and extreme tech metal. The vocals have become more forceful and adventurous, taking large steps outside the gentle minor key melodies of the debut. The sound is very clear, harsh and organic, a great production.

The opener Head On Pillow is more aggressive and has more ideas then any track had from the debut. The songs have become more segmented, there's still a recognizable verse chorus structure at the base, but it regularly opens up into many different directions. Especially the dissonant and crunching guitars are noteworthy. A heavily metalized King Crimson is a recognizable influence here. Impressive track. Also To Kill and Kill Again testifies of their grown maturity and power.

There are some weaker tracks you will need to indulge. The Cluster Children features competent guitar work and good riffs, but they get in the way of the vocals that really struggle to balance out the heavy atonality with good melodious lines. Ruby Red suffers from the same symptoms and feels rather disjointed. On Head On Pillow / Turn the War On, the guitars step back a row or two and Agnete's sensitive vocals are allowed to come to the fore. When the guitars kick in, they really fuel the song's intensity. 4 Chambers is a short and furious track that is smartly sequenced after the slower moment that preceded. Ten Times Defeat opens with a clean guitar loop that has a high 80's King Crimson feel. Traitor's Mark is with its 9 minute length and developing themes easily the most proggy track next to the opener.

You might need time for this one. It's immediately catchy but still needs to grow before the strength of the compositions is revealed. 4 solid stars.