Review MASS WORSHIP ‘Portal Tombs’

Portal Tombs’ is the second album of the four Scandinavians who have come together under the moniker Mass Worship. After having brought their debut album to the people in 2019, nine new songs are following these days.

If you listen to the new tracks, you get the bundled energy of a musical bulldozer slammed into your face. Bands like At The Gates, Meshuggah and Masterdon, all have an influence on the sound of Mass Worship and can be found on the new album.

Songs like ‘Orcus Mouth’ reflect the band’s sources of inspiration very well and make you realize that it’s not all about brutal riffs and growls. Mass Worship go to work in a more versatile way. Melodic guitar parts alternate with massive metal moments, which then blend into quieter and more thoughtful sequences. Besides ‘Orcus Mouth’, the closer ‘Deliverance’ is another song that demonstrates this very well. The entire seven minutes of ‘Deliverance’ have a dark and threatening mood, which unfolds its full force particularly in the slower parts.

To mention is the single release ‘Portal Tombs’, the title track, in which the band gets prominent support. None other than Napalm Death’s frontman Barney Greenway delivers his roaring contribution to a song that reflects in its power and intensity everything Mass Worship stand for.

Lyrically, the title track is also more than just a few words being growled. Mass Worhsip deals with the state of the blue planet and the mankind living on it. It is about the slow and steady decay which inevitably ends in the abyss. Culture, politics, finances and ecology, everything is in a faster and faster downward spiral and the question arises whether this tendency can be stopped at all. Relevant topics, contents that perfectly fit the quartet’s dystopian metal.

Mass Worship deliver a well-made second album, which is musically as well as lyrically impressive. Certainly, one or the other detail can be added or readjusted a bit. Yet, the direction the band is heading towards is promising. Horns up.