Are You Hip to Gloria Morti?

Lateral Constraint is Finnish death metal crew Gloria Morti’s fourth album, but until a friend suggested I check it out yesterday, I’d never heard of the band. I’m glad that’s remedied now! Lateral Constraint has been making love to my ear holes all afternoon, and my ear holes have loved every sweaty second of it.

The friend who recommended the band compared Gloria Morti to Dark Tranquillity, and there are definitely elements of that variety of metal. But they actually remind me more of bands like Behemoth and Fleshgod Apocalypse — bands whose only true goal, it would seem, is to pummel you. These aren’t elephants marching riffs; they’re rhinoceros charging riffs. You will get trampled under foot.

Want a taste? Check out “Sleep, Kill, Regress, Follow” from Lateral Constraint below:

Friggin’ sweet, right? And here’s video of drummer Kauko Kuusisalo playing through “Lex Parsimoniae,” which is the opening track from Constraint. Motherfucker is impressive, to put it mildly.

Metal Blade will release Lateral Constraint comes out in North America on February 5; you can pre-order it here.