Mortad
London, England

Well, this lot certainly have a colourful background. Formed in Scotland in 2008 by vocalist Somi Arian, who herself is of Iranian background, Mortad relocated to London in 2010 where they have settled. Snapping together a sound which is part modern-era Slayer, part Arch Enemy, the end result, as can be heard on their current Pandemic Paranoia EP, is a monsterously heavy groove-laden effort. Of course all attention is going to be aimed in the direction of Arian and while it makes for easy journalism to compare her to Arch Enemy’s vocal powerhouse, Angela Gossow, both her style and ferocious delivery make it hard to not rate the woman that highly. Having spent the best part of the Winter of 2011 in a studio with producer Russ Russell to record their new album The Myth Of Purity and a series of fairly high profile metalfests under the studded belts before that, Mortad look to have a bright future ahead of them in 2012, wherever it takes them.

Facebook Link – http://www.facebook.com/mortadmetal

Review by Graham Finney