HIBERNUS MORTIS is a death metal band from Florida and have been around since Cesar and Ralf started the band in 1995. The band's name translates as "Dead Winter" in latin. They put out a demo in 1998 called Thresholds of Dead Winter and a live album in 2000 titled Live Manslaughter. They released their first full length album in 2001 "The Existing Realms of Perpetual Sorrow. After this point, it is difficult to say if the band is inactive or they just rarely put out new material, nonetheless it takes us to the present and the release of their new album "The Monoliths of Cursed Slumber".

After a short intro the album starts off with the track "Endless Dawns of Somnambulant Exorcisms". Heavily low tuned guitars that when all instruments are engaged, creates a muffled vibrating mass of noise. This seems to be something that the band is known for and when live, surely is pleasing to some death metal fans, but to me it takes away from the tracks. The drums are decent and the vocals have a deep raw power to them that transcends above the chaotic mass. The next track "To Drink the Blood of the Black Sheep" starts off with a decreased pace and for myself, I enjoy the low tempo as it enables the music to come through clearer. You can appreciate the deep rumble of the bass that gets lost through the guitars, but has a strong presence on the album. The song has more of an old school black metal element to it, and is a pretty decent track.

The next few tracks are more of the same bludgeoning force of scrambled noise with some notable moments. One case being the track "Grotesque Perishment into the Miasma of Darkness Everlasting" as the gradual intro of double kick and a classic death metal riff will always hit the spot to any death metal fan. The song itself is a powerful track assisted by more thundering bass and is just a raw assault that grabs your attention by force. The tracks do seem to begin to be redundant and overlap into each other due to the style of playing and songwriting, seems to limit the band creatively. "Invocatism of Never" is another speed blast song, but I find once again that I await the time in the song when it slows and becomes more of a somber 80's death metal offering.

This is definitely not for me, well maybe not the whole album completely. There are many parts that I like but I can't get past the ultra tuned down guitars that with the tempo, becomes a static entanglement. The drums fit the role and are good and the bass is a dominant factor on the release for me, standing out against the chaos. The album is not bad, I just think that it could be more than what it is, but die hard fans of death metal or the loyal following that the band has, should enjoy the work they put into it.