Review by Michael on December 9, 2021.

The filthy, stinking At The Gates brother is back with the second album called Death, Madness, Horror, Decay. One may ask At the Gates brother? Yep, three of the five members of The Lurking Fear work in At The Gates, too (namely Adrian Erlandsson, Jonas Stålhammar and Tomas Lindberg) but instead of playing some melodic death metal with an intellectual painting, The Lurking Fear perform very brutal old school death metal. On the predecessor Out Of The Voiceless Grave lyrical topics dealt with stories by H.P. Lovecraft and if you check the titles, you could think that the major topic are the Great Old Ones again but if you get more into the lyrics, you will find out that it deals more with subliminal and unearthly horror than with the real Lovecraft stories.

The albums starts off with a creeping, gloomy intro with some whispered words and a horrific atmosphere that won't let you expect anything nice while listening to the other 12 tracks. Soon the metal madness ('Abyssal Slime') starts with a merciless riff and powerful drums that will blast you right on the wall. Full speed ahead! Tompa's voice sounds really insane, just like as if he was inside the insane asylum telling some horror stories to his doctor. Simple and fast riffing dominates the first part of the album and you can find some homage to groundbreaking bands like Autopsy (I guess the basic riff in 'Funeral Abyss' is borrowed from “Ridden With Disease”, eh?), Voivod or the early Swedish death metal scene here and there. With the progress of the album the band sometimes decreases the speed within their tracks and builds in some more atmospheric elements like driving, repetitive and hypnotic riffs which try to capture your sanity to let you sink in this maelstrom of madness that the band creates on this album. Nevertheless, the songs appear like a steamroller that is crushing down everything in its path.

I have to state that The Lurking Fear really convinced me with that album while I was a little bit disappointed of the first one because it felt a bit one-dimensional and uninspired. Here they perform straight up old-school death metal without any unnecessary elements or boring parts. Death, Madness, Horror, Decay just creates a dense horrid atmosphere closed with a very disturbing and ass-kicking song called 'Leech Of The Aeons' which is quite a long track for this album (most songs last about 2 – 3 minutes). Some other recommendable songs on this output are 'Death Reborn' (a merciless wrecking ball that lasts only 1:09 (!) but leaves no open questions), 'Architects Of Madness' (a catchy track with brutal riffing and thundering drums) or 'In A Thousand Horrors Crowned' (you can find some more punk / HC influences here).

At the end, I have to mention a slight point of criticism – the production. I have the feeling that the drums are a little bit overproduced. Somehow they sound a little bit strange, sometimes a little rushing noise, I would say. But this will just appear to you if you listen quite intensely to the album.

So, if you feel like taking a trip full of horror and insanity, you should take a risk to listen to Death, Madness, Horror, Decay. My guess is, you won't be disappointed.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10 psychotic trips

Review by Felix on May 8, 2023.

The philanthropically titled Quälen, Zerreißen, Vernichten (“Torture, Tear Apart, Destroy”) is the first quarter of Mavorim’s demo collection. The entire package shows a different facet of the (more or less) one man project. Not in terms of the musical approach, but with regard to the production. The regular albums of Baptist are based on a warm, smooth yet somehow vile production. The sound of Quälen, Zerreißen, Vernichten shows its demo character. It is raw and anti-professional yet equipped with the coarse charm of the underground. I must admit that I needed a short while to get used to it. But now I am fine with the mix, because it still has enough inner strength to bring the song-writer talent of Baptist into its own. And if anyone has been kind enough to read a Mavorim review of mine before, it probably hasn't escaped their notice that I attest to his exceptional talent.

As different as the production is, the music and the lyrics are very similar to that of Baptist’s regular albums. Okay, sometimes his messages are barely understandable, because his voice has to struggle in order to be heard loud and clear. It is drowned out by the guitar. But who cares, the vocal performance is able to deliver the insidious, sometimes cynical element that characterizes the musical vibes of Mavorim. By the way, it’s a pretty stormy music that awaits the listener. Vehement high speed sections are dominating broad parts of the demo and maybe I should mention here that I don't understand why currently Mavorim's style is listed as "Black Metal / Ambient" on this site. Okay, intro and outro consist of spherical sounds, but they account for less than 10% of the 43 minutes material. Anyway, my always very generous mind does not want to be too picky or overly academic… Fact is that Mavorim vary the tempo in the regular songs cleverly. 'Hort Der Seligkeit', for instance, holds rumbling fast-paced sections, but also an almost relaxed opening part. The latter features the most catchy riff of “Ex Umbra In Solem” Part I. It’s a simple one, no doubt about it, but simultaneously a very good one.

The six tracks between intro and outro are opulently designed, but their average length of more than six minutes results in neither boredom nor confusion. Baptist has crafted clever arrangements for each and every track. Well, maybe it is true that we do not find a perfect song here, something we get presented on every of his regular albums. (“Die Andere Seite Deines Traumes” is the one on his new work which will be released in two weeks.) But it is not only 'Verhallt In Dunkelheit' which shines with very unleashed and mighty parts. No song hurts the flow of this demo and there is no break in the six songs which appears inappropriate. Moreover, the contribution of the keyboard is not intrusive, but also no end in itself. This is how it should be, if I am not mistaken.

Euphemistically, one might say that Quälen, Zerreißen, Vernichten marks the perfect beginning for this demo(nic) package, because on the one hand, it delivers good music, but on the other hand, it leaves room for optimization. Non-euphemistically, this demo recording is able to beat some regular recordings of the competition into perdition (read: YMCA hostel). Already the wild, quite fantastic opener 'Im Angesicht Der Endlichkeit' indicates this. Both its tumultuous and more controlled parts hit the mark excellently. The stylish artwork, I guess the eagle is enthroned on a war memorial, makes the whole thing complete. Summing up, I am not totally blown away, but I cannot identify serious deficits as well and especially those of you who think that the band sounds too polished on its “normal” full-lengths (In confidence: a misjudgement) should give Mavorim a second chance.

Rating: 7.6 out of 10