Hmm, I have to admit that I was expecting something different when I read the album title Schlachtmusik (translating to Battle Music). Bombastic scenes with some traditional instruments and tunes came to my mind. Well, you won’t find much of that on this CD. ICTUS MORTIS are hailing from Austria and their demo CD Schlachtmusik contains a mélange of Gothic Metal (what was initially the main and only musical style of the band) and a share of Black Metal. Not that much Black Metal rawness, but some blasting and speed.
When I started listening, I did not even have the chance to get an adequate impression of the music itself, as I immediately was unhappy with the singing on Schlachtmusik. The vocals are very much pointed out and are quite ok as long as the front man is growling. But as soon as ICTUS MORTIS try to sing almost clear or completely clean, it’s going rapidly downhill and fails to strike the right note several times.
Besides the singing, I could discover some good approaches in form of interesting riffs. But ICTUS MORTIS did not manage to turn those rudiments into account. Instead of, most of the better ideas got overrun by the way to offensive and dominant keyboard. Also, compared to the keyboard production, the guitars and the (sometimes quite bumpy) drums sound too thin.
ICTUS MORTIS might have an interesting concept by combining Gothic and Black parts with interesting and uncommon lyrics. But this demo shows that they will have to work on their songwriting and their skills to reach at least average level.