Mortiis – The Smell Of Rain (2001)

May 30, 2012

Y’know what, I don’t know anyone who fucking likes Mortiis. Either he really isn’t appreciated at all, or I am just surrounded by people who do not understand his music. I’m pretty certain it is the latter. When I was in school a lot of the goth kids started liking Mortiis when The Grudge came out, and this pissed me off if anything, because I’d been chastised for listening to Mortiis for years, and now all of a sudden it was cool. Well, maybe cool wasn’t the right word, but if you told me I would go to see Mortiis live with four other people I would have told you to fuck off. Four people! Jesus fucking Christ!

In 2012, and therefore able to view the Mortiis canon in it’s entirety, one can appreciate the odd space in time that The Smell of Rain occupies. Lodged awkwardly in the early 00s, sandwiched between Mortiis’ often questionable “dark dungeon” synth outputs and his later, more industrial and metal influenced work, The Smell of Rain is an enigma unto itself, somehow combining elements of past and future Mortiis sounds and rolling into one fuck off ball of puzzling goth-disco. Yes. That just about sums it up.

I’m sure most peoples knowledge of this record begins and ends with the nauseating promo video for “Parasite God”, a cracking track in it’s own right, but this album is so much more! Bang your head to tunes such as “Mental Maelstrom”! Dance yourself silly to “Put a Hex on Me”! Sing along proudly to “Smell the Witch”! Cringe at Mortiis singing “Monolith”! What a journey! I’m sure that it is rather obvious I am being sarcastic here but I mean good. Whereas this record may not stand the test of time alongside the full spectrum of music created on the planet, The Smell of Rain remains elite within it’s own possibly self-made sub genre of severe corniness and eye make up.

This pressing is actually very extravagant, considering Earache put it out. It is pressed on super heavy wax spinning at 45rpm, giving you the full audiophile experience you would never expect from Dig and co. Unfortunately, my copy is marred by a sticker removal on the front cover, ripping off a chunk of artwork, which really sucks.