Mental Vortex
title: "Mental Vortex" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1991-albums", "coroner-(band)-albums", "noise-records-albums"] topic_path: "arts/music" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_Vortex" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::data[format=table title="Infobox album"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Mental Vortex |
| type | studio |
| artist | Coroner |
| cover | Mental Vortex.PNG |
| released | 12 August 1991 |
| recorded | April–June 1991 |
| studio | Sky Trak Studio, Berlin |
| genre | |
| length | 47:30 |
| label | Noise |
| producer | Tom Morris |
| prev_title | No More Color |
| prev_year | 1989 |
| next_title | Grin |
| next_year | 1993 |
| :: |
| name = Mental Vortex | type = studio | artist = Coroner | cover = Mental Vortex.PNG | alt = | released = 12 August 1991 | recorded = April–June 1991 | studio = Sky Trak Studio, Berlin | genre = | length = 47:30 | label = Noise | producer = Tom Morris | prev_title = No More Color | prev_year = 1989 | next_title = Grin | next_year = 1993
| rev1 = AllMusic | rev1Score = | rev3 = Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal | rev3Score = 9/10 | noprose = yes
Mental Vortex is the fourth album by the Swiss thrash metal band Coroner, released on 12 August 1991.
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. About the album's direction, Eduardo Rivadavia of AllMusic claims, "Unbridled speed and aggression were replaced by highly technical and unconventional songwriting."
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 = Marquis Marky, except where noted | title1 = Divine Step (Conspectu Mortis) | music1 = Baron, Royce | length1 = 7:05 | title2 = Son of Lilith | music2 = Baron, Royce | length2 = 6:55 | title3 = Semtex Revolution | music3 = Baron | length3 = 5:31 | title4 = Sirens | music4 = Baron, Royce | length4 = 4:56 | title5 = Metamorphosis | music5 = Baron, Royce | length5 = 5:35 | title6 = Pale Sister | music6 = Baron | length6 = 4:55 | title7 = About Life | music7 = Baron | length7 = 5:18 | title8 = I Want You (She's So Heavy) | note8 = The Beatles cover | lyrics8 = Lennon, McCartney | music8 = Lennon, McCartney | length8 = 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
References
- Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Coroner Mental Vortex review". [[Rovi Corporation]].
- Popoff, Martin. (August 1, 2007). "The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 3: The Nineties". [[Collector's Guide Publishing]].
- Rowella, Chris. (August 12, 2016). "Coroner's 'Mental Vortex' Turns 25".
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