Morpehus Descends - From Blackened Crypts

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