Review of the Album "Cool Mortification" by Czech Death Metal Band Krabathor

“Cool Mortification” is the second studio album by Czech death metal band Krabathor released in 1993 and this one is a step up from the band’s debut in the sense that it expands upon its creativity, sounding like mid 90’s American death metal bands combined with heavy, guttural vocals.

Faces Under the Ice features vocals that repeat the song’s name incessantly with a symphonic feel to it as the song is about mankind being rescued from the abyss even if our faces are down in the ice literally speaking. “In the Blazing River” has some interesting drumming before the song turns into a fast picking kind of song and already we hear that this album is more technical compared to the band’s debut. They were showing signs of growing already back then. You can even hear the bass guitar in some instances in spite of the heaviness in the album. This may be because the album was so well produced for its time.

A special note or comment here about the first song is that it sounds like early death metal such as Florida’s death metal band Death. I am reminded of the 2nd album called Leprosy. The influence that Chuck Schuldiner has left behind has contributed to Europe’s death metal scene at least in part.

In the Blazing River lyrically is about a man that woke up being a long distance away from the sun as his mind and eyes are out of sorts. The blazing river that is mentioned in this song is a river of death. The song is highly technical and pretty impressive!

“Evil Corners of Mind” starts with a spooky sort of atmospheric sort of musicality before it gets heavy. “The Loop” however starts out very soft at first. Did Krabathor take a page out of the playbook of band such as In Flames? I can only guess but this acoustic part definitely makes them have at least some variation. The song is about someone that has a loop around their neck and they have been wrongfully accused of a crime. “Without the Following Dawn” is a song about someone that wants to fall asleep without worrying about whether the dawn will come or not. He would rather sleep permanently because he fears that others will come and disturb him. “Forget the Gods” is an anti-religious kind of song lyrically that expresses hatred and dissatisfaction of organized religion. Where are the gods when thousands of young people die each year the song is asking.

Absence of Life is a song that describes what happens if a person lives life not knowing what their place is in the eternity that will last after they have passed on. There are times when people don’t seem to be aware of the time that passes by while they remain ignorant of what is going on.

Final Score for the album Cool Mortification: 82 points out of 100 for a solid B