Mental Vortex

1991 studio album by Coroner

Mental Vortex

Studio album by

Coroner

Released

12 August 1991

Recorded

April–June 1991

Studio

Sky Trak Studio, Berlin

Genre

Technical thrash metal
progressive metal
avant-garde metal

Length

47:30

Label

Noise

Producer

Tom Morris

Coroner chronology

No More Color
(1989)

Mental Vortex
(1991)

Grin
(1993)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[1]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal	9/10^[2]

Mental Vortex is the fourth album by the Swiss thrash metal band Coroner, released on 12 August 1991.

Musical style

Mental Vortex sees Coroner continuing the experimental formula from its predecessor No More Color (1989), showcasing a mixture of thrash metal with progressive, jazz fusion and avant-garde influences,^[3] while "unbridled speed and aggression were replaced by highly technical and unconventional songwriting".^[1]

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, with 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

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)".

References

^ ^a ^b Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Coroner Mental Vortex review". AllMusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 10 September 2011.
^ Popoff, Martin (1 August 2007). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 3: The Nineties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 87. ISBN 978-1-894959-62-9.
^ Rowella, Chris (12 August 2016). "Coroner's 'Mental Vortex' Turns 25". Invisible Oranges. Archived from the original on 14 August 2016. Retrieved 9 February 2023.