Goreaphobia – Mortal Repulsion (2009) [Ibex Moon] // Grade: C+

All hail Philadelphia death metal! Wait, what? The late 80′s brought Goreaphobia into the northeastern US death metal scene. Even though their early years only produced a series of demos and tour-releases, Goreaphobia has returned to churn out Mortal Repulsion, their first full-length almost two decades after they first formed.

Mortal Repulsion isn’t anything special, if you negate their history in American death metal, but it is an interesting mix of thrash and death. 12 tracks flow smoothly with pleasant surprises in the midst of it all. “Ordeal Of The Abyss” and “Amulet Of Damnation” are great beginners with two distinct sounds, great riffs and echoing vocals. “Negative Screams (passage intro)” sounds almost like a death chant, sparking 3 minutes of eerie atmospheric slaughterama filler-space. Like most death metal, the songs come in around 2 – 3 minutes each with two longer tracks sticking out. “Despised and Ruined” coming in around 5 minutes and The “Inevitable Punishment / Faded Into Ends (part 2)” totaling over 8. The latter may seem like a long and drawn out track at first, but it’s mixed up quite well and stomps right through quickly enough without dragging its feet.

Overall, the entire album is OK. My only major qualm is the compressed vocals. Granted it is death metal, but the album plays very flat. Very little of it really pops. If the production quality was better, it’d make for a better listen. The drums dominate the 48 minute album, leaving the guitars and vocals in the fog. Mortal Repulsion is a decent old school death metal album from a band with deep roots in the north-eastern metal scene. If they tour through NYC, I’ll definitely try to catch them. Maybe the live show is better?

- Prolly