LORD MORTVM is a Norwegian one man band project that has dropped a dark, evil and excellent blackened doom metal album called "Diabolical Omen Of Hell." If you don't like doom or black metal, then look elsewhere.  If you don't like raw, unnerving music that speaks of witchcraft and blasphemy, then look elsewhere. I mean, it has a song called "Sodomizing With Satan." But if you are one of the lucky few who loves some dirty doom, this album is a gold mine of riffs, screams, fuzzed out bass, and powerfully crisp drums.

The production is rough but in a good way.  Honestly, this album wouldn't sound half as good with a polished sound.  That works for some bands but "Diabolical Omen Of Hell," is an album that craves the muck from which it crawls from.  It definitely has an old school, vintage sound—I bet it sounds great on vinyl. I will say the many sound bites/audio samples are extremely annoying.  I get they make sense in context of the album's style and subject matter but they were a bit much for me and got in their own way.  With that being said, there is very little else to complain about.

The first track, "Altar Obscene," has a killer riff in the beginning—slow, heavy with a bit of groove thrown in.  The drums hit like lighting strikes, lighting up the guitar even more while the bass digs deep into the mud and pulls out dirty blasts of rumbling thunder.  The vocals are loud and shrieking, filtered, and sound kind of far away...perfect for the album's sound. "Devil Doll," begins with a huge riff that has a stoner doom feel to it but much, much darker.  The solo is wonderful and fits into the rest of the song like a puzzle piece—solos that are distracting are pointless but this album is only filled with ones that bring the songs closer to themselves.  The lead guitar returns near the song's ending and brings with it heavy horror induced psychedelic vibes that mess with the head while banging it.

"Omega XIII" continues that atmosphere with the opening moments being a smoked filled haze.  The blackened vocals pierce to this smokey veil while the riffs, and especially the bass, get lower than I thought possible.  This is just one heavy ass song, crushing and encompassing. Speaking of haze.... "Children Of Haze," is the next track and also one of my favorites on the album.  The first riff is just nasty and what amounts to melody for this band is brought to life with the lead guitar residing over the rhythm like a hanged body swaying in the wind.  This track is hypnotic as it wraps you in the clutches of the power of the riff.

While not terrible, "Sodomizing With Satan," is the album's low point compared to the other songs.   It is a fine instrumental but the god awful samples really take away from it all.  Otherwise, it is a swampy dirge that took me through twisting paths and dark corners through a never ending night of horror. Thankfully, the final track, "Merciful Lord," brings it all back around with a ten minute doom epic.  The guitar is very dangerous on the song—the riffs are thick and tall as a mountain.  While the blackened vocals rip stuff up, the bass comes on very strong and threatens to cause an avalanche on this mountain.  The music holds together while becoming very dense, just nearly impenetrable.  The tempo slow (as well it should be) and listening to this song felt like I was trying to swim through quicksand but with a far more rewarding experience of course.

All in all LORD MORTVM's debut album is surprisingly strong for a first effort and definitely one of the more dark and twisted doom albums I've heard this year.