UMUR
"The Cradle" is the first demo recording by Finnish death metal act Mortal Agony. The demo was independently released in November 1994. Mortal Agony formed in 1993, released this demo and then disbanded.
Stylistically this is some pretty brutal old school death metal, but featuring some ties to late 80s thrash metal in the way some of the riffs are constructed (in that respect an act like Malevolent Creation aren´t the worst reference). Other than that this is undeniably death metal featuring some relatively brutal growling vocals. The five tracks on the 18:45 minutes long demo are powerful and feature some interesting structures, which means it takes a few listens to grasp them. So lack of variation within tracks in terms of tempo changes, breaks, and various other shifts is not an issue on this demo. These tracks will keep the listener on his/her toes.
The sound production is lacking a bit of heavy bottom, but otherwise "The Cradle" is a well produced demo, where you´re able to hear all instruments and vocals in the mix. The rawness of the sound production also provides the music with the right touch of gloomy morbidity that this type of death metal release thrives on.
Upon conclusion Mortal Agony were a little late to the game, and this release probably drowned upon release and wasn´t noticed nearly as much as it deserved to be. While it´s a bit more US influenced than most Finnish death metal demos and therefore isn´t as unique as some of the most well known early 90s demos by other Finnish artists (demos from artists like Convulse, Demigod, Xysma, Sentenced, Abhorrence...etc.) it´s still a good quality demo release and a 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.