MORPHEUS DESCENDS - From Blackened Crypts (DARK DESCENT 7"EP 2015)
It’s kind of bizarre
phenomenon, to see all those old, long time dead, bands suddenly exhumed and resuscitated.
They grab the last breath and last chance to exist in the death metal
underground, with either great or totally bad and useless style. I speak now
about death metal as it looks like this zombie disease has infected mainly this
genre. And well, I could mention many examples, but here I am gonna write about
Morpheus Descends. To be honest, I had no idea they came back. Sure, I knew the
reissues of their old recordings, I even bought some of them on vinyl, maybe I
also saw posters that they played few gigs in the USA. But I had no idea they
recorded anything new. And then I saw this 7”EP in Iron Bonehead shop and
bought it immediately, surprised that I didn’t know it’s coming. It’s even more
surprising that it came from Dark Descent and The Crypt, so two among my
favourite record labels out there. So lucky I was then to see a copy. And well,
now after several spins, I can admit that for sure Morpheus Descends return
belongs to those worthy and very good ones, indeed!
Maybe one of the reasons why
this music sounds so great and authentic is that some of the Morpheus Descends
guys have never really disappeared and were around the scene all the time. If
it wasn’t with Morpheus Descends then it was with other bands like Mausoleum.
On the other hand for Craig Campbell it is a comeback to death metal after more
than two decades, as the last time he was seen around was when he growled on the
old Morpheus demo (“Accelerated Decrepitude” in 1991!). But to my surprise, his
voice still sounds damn vicious and nasty, no doubt he’s a great growler and
one of the best surprises on the whole EP.
This 7”EP is just two newly
recorded songs, but damn, I like them a lot, they sound as solid and authentic
as the old stuff, maybe even better! Basically what we have here is old school
death metal, very much like the old Morpheus Descends stuff. Plus it makes you
think of such Incantation, Funerus, Abysme, old Finnish death scene and so on.
Obviously, the production has been updated, so it’s very heavy and massive
sounding stuff, but the songs are so damn good that they should please all die
hard maniacs of such intense death metal. “The King's Curse” is my favourite
here, as the slow, brutal sound of this piece is just fuckin sweet and damn, it
just creates such a great sepulchral and severe aura, with great riffs and
vocals all the way through. “Oozing from the Urn” is also killer though, it’s a
bit faster song, so it sounds like erupting volcano or avalanche that comes
down fast to destroy everything on its way. There’s no escape, so let it crush
you and bury now! I can only speak in positive words about the performance,
with great vocals, riffs, very nice production that fits this style of death
metal perfectly.
Definitely “From Blackened
Crypts” is a killer comeback, but I hope it won’t end up like with Goddefied or
Uncanny, who also released fantastic 7”EPs and then went silent again. I want
to hear more from Morpheus Descends, the sooner the better. Yeah, these
dinosaurs do have death metal in blood! Don't know the limits, but do get a copy now!
Final rate: 85/100
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