There’s something thrilling about an artist who treats their inspirations as unstable chemicals; things to be heated, stressed, and pushed until they change form. On ‘Under The Influence’, Mortal Prophets step into that role with confidence and nerve, delivering a project that feels like controlled demolition.
This release isn’t interested in faithful recreation. Instead, it feels like a series of experiments carried out in a darkened room, where familiar material is dismantled and rebuilt with different emotional circuitry. The band’s long-standing fascination with tension, romance after midnight, and jagged minimalism is fully intact here, but it’s redirected inward, toward the sources that quietly shaped their identity. What emerges is an EP that feels simultaneously referential and alien, as if the past has been filtered through a cracked mirror.
One of the most striking aspects of the release is how it collapses time. Songs associated with warmth or theatricality are reframed as introspective, almost devotional spaces. Elsewhere, already-angular material is sharpened further, transformed into lean, nerve-rattling statements that feel engineered for late-night cityscapes and flickering streetlights. Rhythm becomes claustrophobic, basslines stalk rather than groove, and vocals hover like internal monologue.
Silence and repetition do as much emotional labour as melody. Rather than guiding us gently, the band invites discomfort, trusting that friction will reveal something more honest. It’s a bold move, and one that pays off as each track feels like a self-contained psychological space.
In all, ‘Under The Influence’ argues that influence is about risk. By pulling apart the songs that shaped them and refusing to protect their original forms, Mortal Prophets assert their own authorship more clearly than ever. This is inheritance under stress, and it’s one of the most compelling chapters in their evolution so far.
