Search - Mordred :: In This Life

Mordred : "In This Life".....

Masked Jackal | Ft. Lauderdale, FL United States | 08/03/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"We'll probably never get to hear another band as original and creative as Mordred, or another release as musically interesting as "In This Life" is from front to finish....I don't really know how to descibe this release in terms of a musical direction, but its it's great and I love it!!!!Mordred is traditionally classified as Thrash IMO, but it's also much more than that. It's funny, and it's clever. It even has brief rap and scratching breaks, and don't worry, I hate rap, but Mordred is one band that pulls it off fabulously as a Thrash Metal unit. It's a very unique display of lyrics and music to say the least....Faith No More on steroids. But not the same either. Mordred's got a hard edge to it that is their own. They are possively Thrash in my honest opinion.I can't understand why bands this good and creative don't make it bigger because "In This Life" is a huge release!! Never again will we get to hear another release quite as unique as this is. It's simply a masterpiece as far as I'm concerned....I only wish they would have continued. This is by far one of the most underrated Thrash bands, and "In This Life" is a true diamond in the rough when it comes to genius creativity....This is easily worthy of five stars...."

It's Mordred!!! Do you feel me, playa?

Church of The Flaming Sword | 01/06/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I'll be honest. I was and still am a big fan of funk rock that came out of the late 1980s like Fishbone, Urban Dance Squad, Faith No More, and Living Colour. What was interesting about Mordred's approach was how they mixed funk with REAL metal. Not just a moronic two-chord progression like Limp Bisquick, but actual technical riffs and solos that required fleet-fingered dexterity. Does anyone question Opeth's "metal" credentials when they combine folk and 1970s progressive rock, or Rhapsody when they fuse baroque classical arrangements with metal? I hope not, nor should they question Mordred. And one more thing: they covered Rick James' "Super Freak" before MC Hammer did.1991's In This Life is Mordred's second album. While the sound quality isn't the greatest, it displays an amazing combination of 1970's funk with thrash metal that no one else has improved upon since. There's even reggae on the song "Downtown", and a beautiful one minute acoustic intro to "Falling Away". The other tracks show how the band switched from funk to metal almost instantaneously. The only drawback is the lyrics to "Larger Than Life". The chorus is this:"Stand my ground, won't back down"Wasn't that in a Tom Petty song? Anyway. Not only did Mordred add a novel twist to the melting pot of heavy metal, they also consisted of highly talented musicians. The dual guitar playing of Danny White and James Sanguinetti simply needs to be heard. Gannon Hall's drumming owed more to Stewart Copeland than it did to Lars Ulrich or Charlie Benante. Rapper Aaron "Pause" Vaughn's turntables enhanced the group's sound rather than took away from it. And Scott Holderby sung like nobody else in metal. He mostly eschewed the usual high pitched screaming in favor of a funky, swaggering timbre. Even though there is a big backlash against the whole rap-rock scene (much of it justified with lame acts like Crazy Town), I know that most metal fans (unless you're of the ultra-militant persuasion) would enjoy Mordred if they were to hear them. Don't let the fact that there's rapping or turntables close your mind. Rapping is on only 3% of the album at the most. And remember something else, Mordred was doing this long, long before it became popular."