 
Mortad are a London based metal group founded
in 2010 by Iranian vocalist Somi Arian. “The
Myth of Purity” is their first full length
studio album released for free with Metal Hammer
magazine, their album cover suggests I’m
in for an hour or so of some female fronted metal.
The first thing I notice is that the vocals are
ridiculously similar to those of Angela Gossow
(Arch Enemy) and the music isn’t far off
from being classed as similar, its surreal to
be honest when I first stuck it on I thought my
iTunes library had screwed up and actually started
playing Arch Enemy instead. The real differences
are more of just a modern twist; breakdowns, crunchier
tone, higher pitched squeals and the sinister
approach to writing as opposed to the straight
up heavy way of work.
“The Mirage” really intrigued me,
especially its intro. The vocals are spine chilling
before the kick in, makes me shiver sometimes.
The rest of the track still sounds like Arch Enemy
but has its defining moments that pull it apart
from the comparison mostly to do with the guitar
techniques from the modern metal scene like every
other song, unlike the rest thought this is much
more ominous.”I’m Not Interested in
Being Interesting” is another different
approach which I think pays off in dragging their
name away from the similarity comparison but I
don’t think I particularly like the way
they’ve written it, a bit slower in pace
and the vocals are a bit hard to digest.
I really like the album, the band have captured
that really ominous atmosphere whilst drifting
between heavy and gentle musical transitions with
each song. I just feel the similarity to Arch
Enemy is a bit much and they need to brand out
a bit to really be taken seriously, if they focus
on what really makes their sound really distinctive
and unique then they can take this through global
success.
3/5
Review by James Webb
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