‘Media control, Suppression of dissent, A network of lies, Manufacturing consent, Walking into the new normal’ (Walking Into The New Normal)

London-based Mortar return with their second full-length of d-beat fuelled metallic crust with this follow-up to 2023’s Fire And Steel.  First things first, this album sounds massive.  Every element feels dialled up to the maximum – not blown out but rather big, burly, and bristling for the fight.  Importantly, amid the unrelenting rhythmic d-beat onslaught, space is given for the bruising riffs to breathe, while squalling solos and occasionally flaring melodic accents add further texture.

The semi-growled, semi-shouted vocals are drenched in urgency as they survey an atomised society that ignores the true causes of its plight in favour of scapegoating the already marginalised.  This refusal ferments increasing right-wing extremism that, in turn, heralds an authoritarian turn, leaving the world at the mercy of corrupt oligarchs and delusional warmongers.

From the barrelling opener, When There Is No One Left To Be Killed to the groove-laden Special Military Operation, and from the bludgeoning Living In The Shadow Of A Nuclear War to the slab-like fury of Walking Into The New Normal, there is no respite to be found.  This is a wholly uncompromising album in both execution and conviction.