Mental Vortex
1991 studio album by Coroner
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Mental Vortex is the fourth album by the Swiss thrash metal band Coroner, released on 12 August 1991.
| Mental Vortex | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 12 August 1991 | |||
| Recorded | April–June 1991 | |||
| Studio | Sky Trak Studio, Berlin | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 47:30 | |||
| Label | Noise | |||
| Producer | Tom Morris | |||
| Coroner chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [2] |
| Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal | 9/10[3] |
Musical style
Mental Vortex continues Coroner's experimental approach established in its predecessor, No More Color (1989), blending thrash metal with progressive, jazz fusion, and avant-garde influences.[4] About the album's direction, Eduardo Rivadavia of AllMusic claims, "Unbridled speed and aggression were replaced by highly technical and unconventional songwriting."[2]
Reissues
After being out of print for many years, Noise/BMG reissued the album in 2018, remastered with the same track list in a digipack CD case, including additional photographs of the band and memorabilia.
Track listing
All lyrics are written by Marquis Marky, except where noted.
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Divine Step (Conspectu Mortis)" | Baron, Royce | 7:05 | |
| 2. | "Son of Lilith" | Baron, Royce | 6:55 | |
| 3. | "Semtex Revolution" | Baron | 5:31 | |
| 4. | "Sirens" | Baron, Royce | 4:56 | |
| 5. | "Metamorphosis" | Baron, Royce | 5:35 | |
| 6. | "Pale Sister" | Baron | 4:55 | |
| 7. | "About Life" | Baron | 5:18 | |
| 8. | "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" (The Beatles cover) | Lennon, McCartney | Lennon, McCartney | 7:15 |
| Total length: | 47:30 | |||
Personnel
- Coroner
- Ron Broder (as Ron Royce) – vocals, bass
- Tommy Vetterli (as Tommy T. Baron) – guitars
- Marky Edelmann (as Marquis Marky) – drums, cover concept and design
- Additional musicians
- Kent Smith – keyboards
- Janelle Sadler – backing vocals
- Steve Gruden – backing vocals
- Production
- Tom Morris – producer, engineer, mixing
- Sven Conquest – second engineer
- Karl-U. Walterbach – executive producer
- Martin Becker – photography (cover and sleeve)
- Maren Lotz – typography
- Robbie Müller – digital image
Charts
| Chart (2026) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[5] | 62 |
Notes
- The intro on "Divine Step" (the "Emergency Room intro") is from the movie Re-Animator.
- Lilith is a female demon of the Mesopotamian mythology.
- The sample at the end of "Semtex Revolution" is from a Dallas news broadcast covering the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
- Semtex is a type of plastic explosive.
- "About Life" samples the line 'We have to see, we have to know' from the film Hellbound: Hellraiser II.
- The cover image is a modified photograph of Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates in the 1960 Alfred Hitchcock film Psycho.
- A music video was made for the song "I Want You (She's So Heavy)".