Review by Nathan on February 21, 2020.

Mors Verum has some of the most fascinating riffs I've heard come out of my regional area in a long time. Although they currently haven't found the right drummer to fit their sound and play live with a guitarist, vocalist and drum programming through the speakers, it's a surprise how much this still crushes. Well, I'm mostly referring to their debut release, which is a journey into some Ulcerate-esque mindfuckery mixed with a little bit of technical flair that is hard to ignore. I got this release after catching one of their live sets, as they didn't yet have CDs for Deranged out. It's a pretty small two-bit operation going on behind the scenes for this one, and they're still a couple steps away from being a full band, but Indoctrination Forest has enough going on to let you know the potential is there.

Immediately, you're treated to a storm of modern melodic death metal punctuated with additional little fills and sweeps, the drum production is clearly inhuman but programmed with enough attention in the details that the lack of humanity doesn't tend to phase the mix too much. What does sound a bit awkward, however, is where the vocals are sitting: they're kind of on top of the mix but not particularly powerful, kind of lingering about as this phlegmy purr. Thankfully, they cleaned up the sound of Lyndon Quadros's low on the following full-length, because he does have a pretty healthy tone (he's the only vocalist in Mors Verum currently, as far as I know - I don't know if Michael Bain was ever a permanent part of the band or what, but he isn't in it now).

Some of these tracks were later reworked for the full length, which tells you how the band likely feels about the ideas they have on here: the core of them is good and the riffs are obviously tight as hell, Mrudul Kamble is a machine, but the actual end product feels a bit too underdeveloped to be able to properly showcase the riffs. Can you imagine how dope Kamble's guitarwork would sound if he had a whole backing band feeding off him? These are some excellent, varied tech riffs that draw from all over the spectrum of modern brutality, so really it's just a shame that they don't get proper spotlight. You're probably just better off going straight to the full-length and getting the reimagined tracks - this is a curious piece if you're interested in hearing the band's humble origins, but ultimately I think they're going to shed the amateurish aspects of Indoctrination Forest over time.

Rating: 6.8 out of 10