Aware the reach of thrash has exploded beyond North America, mainland Europe, and the Far East – it’s never surprising these days to find remote countries exporting their take on the genre. This young quartet Mortal Vision hail from the Ukraine – the second largest country in Eastern Europe after Russia. Together since 2019, they’ve released two singles prior to this Mind Manipulation full-length – an eight-track record that displays a raw, primal energy befitting of 1984-1987 acts from the German and Brazilian sectors.
Nothing super fancy comes to the forefront of the Mortal Vision platform in terms of savage riffs, pounding rhythm section support, stop/start transition mechanics, and gruff, sandpaper-ish main vocals (with proper delay/reverb enhancement) over the top of it all. As guitarists Andrey Gayduk and Ivan Dyshlyuk combine adequate shredding abilities with melodic and divebomb nuances when hitting the leads – while the rhythm / harmony components should cause massive headbanging throughout. These twenty-something musicians certainly studied under the discography tutelage of Sodom (Agent Orange backwards) and Sepultura (especially Schizophrenia and Beneath the Remains) when you look at the pacing, songwriting, and tones for “Eternal Hatred” and “Possessed”. There are times where bassist Ivan Gorbatyuk pops up for a more groove-like angle which helps “Apophenia” stand out against the faster to mid-tempo neck whipping antics, much in a Greg Christian-like / old Testament manner. Keeping the proceedings in tight four-minute and change windows ensures easier consumption and less chance for boredom, and even the nods to “Creeping Death”/Metallica for the slower sections of “Forced Extermination” aren’t so plagiarized that it is detrimental to the normal speed and burn approach of the group.
Mortal Vision have a little bit of work to establish their own presence in a very crowded field for thrash. Mind Manipulation will have its share of fans especially if you love Sodom and early Sepultura – let’s just hope that more seasoning, experience, and road work will allow the band to expand what can be achieved on the next recording.