Vitam Et Morem is a blackened death metal band from Colombia. In 2020 they have released a 10 track album titled “El Rio De La Muerte”. Looking at the album cover this should be good. The cover depicts an old wizard sailing on a wooden boat in a bloodbath-esque sea with skulls and vultures everywhere. Although cartoonish, the artwork is beautiful, I love it straight away.
These guys have been around since 2002, so they should know what they are doing.
Listening to this album immediately takes you to a different reality as if you’re swimming in a bloodbath, looking for ways to survive. I love it! The atmospheres are fantastically spooky, evil and perhaps even nostalgic at times. The guitar leads are melodic and beautifully executed; some of them are folk-metal-ish. The heavy rhythm section gives the music the punch it needs. The music is exactly what it claims to be – at the core death metal with black metal atmospheres including heavy riffs combined with a strong rhythm section. I wouldn’t think death metal is easy to mix with black metal, but these guys have done it right – they have stuck to heavy and brutal riffs while adding atmospheres to set the precedent.
You don’t have to be Pablo to work out what our Amigos wrote about. Every horse, dog and donkey in town knows that “la muerte” means death. With a simple google search, you will find out that “El rio de la muerte” translates into River of Death. This is very straight forward, although I would love to be able to understand more of it, it is in Spanish and unfortunately, I’m not Pablo. The artist also surprises with some really well executed clean singing at “El Animero” and “Aqueronte”.
Although production is good on this, particularly the lead and solo tone of the guitar is really enjoyable, the overall sound is kind of old-schoolish. There is nothing wrong with that, the music is very enjoyable. Personally, I would love to see a more modern tone while retaining the atmospheres and everything else these guys bring, but that’s a tiny detail in comparison. There is nothing to complain about here really, every instrument is up to scratch. This will be on my playlist for a long time.
Overall this release is a great headbanger. Death metal fans will really enjoy this. I would love to see this played live. Well done, Amigos. Muchos gracias!
Vitam Et Morem: Facebook
Release Year: 2020
Label: Satanath Records
Category: Album
Country: Colombia
Reviewed by Justin
