Morpheus Descends - Chronicles Of The Shadowed Ones [1994] (EP)

The old New York death metal scene was a glorious place during its heyday. There has been a manifestation of indulgent, cadaverous acts, the most prominent ones being Suffocation, Cannibal Corpse and Suffocation, which obviously influences the majority of the metal bands that resided there.  Morpheus Descends is one of the more underground bands to emerge from the filth-laden streets of New York, and their debut album ‘’Ritual Of Infinity’’ is an ever praised underground classic that churns together a bulk of brutal aesthetics and sinister rituals in one place, forming a delicious OSDM feast. The band lived on for some time, relatively longer than other acts which could not withstand the furious winds of change, but in the end they too joined the ashes and dust, only to reappear on the internet. The repute held by about band is simple; an opinion held by the almost the entire underground stating that their debut is their most golden moment. I, for one must agree that it’s a golden release, but not the uttermost golden.

Two years after the exhalation of ‘’Ritual Of Infinity’’, Morpheus Descends bestirs yet another force to unleash, one that has been shamefully overlooked. ‘’Chronicles Of The Shadowed Ones’’ is an EP, released without the aid of any label, yet in spite of being a low budget release, it stands as a better record than the lauded debut. On ‘’Chronicles…’’, Morpheus Descends undeniably leans towards a more cathartic edge, producing a bombastic death/doom mutation of shadowy brute force and despondent, subterranean intellect.  Espousing themselves deeply in a horror concept, the band’s esoteric knowledge excludes the overt brutality present on the first record and transforms it onto a mournful array of melancholic death/doom obelisks, taking on a sinister, dabbling hue to environ the listener in dark, ethereal wroth.

The cravings that Morpheus Descends gouges are still somewhat similar to the aesthetics of the debut album, but the scrofulous chthonic emission on ‘’Chronicles…’’ reeks of misanthropy everywhere it goes. The dynamic, muscular rhythm sequences have all of a sudden been turned into crushing monstrous death/doom exercises, the tremolo-laced patterns are now sweltering with dread and constant horror, and in addition, the vocals are murkier and cavernous, suiting the drudgy trudging of the riffs more. I must confide, however, that even with the additional gnawing aspects of the raw production the EP does is not as evil as some other acts with were dominant over the dark arts such as Infester, but with so much primacy running through veins of punishment, it’s only natural that the band invigorates the static, brawny elements in order to attain a dose of brutality that was highly present on the debut.

With some much ponderous grooving going on, the songs rang at a minimum of five minutes, fuelling numbing pain as the sludgy excursions ooze from their decrepit caves and emerge. The EP is rather lengthy to be an EP, ranging at thirty-two minutes, but I suppose it was never written in the cards for ‘’Chronicles…’’ to reach a higher peak. ‘’Chronicles…’’ also has a very dynamic display of drum fills, my absolute favourite performance on the whole album. Instead of plodding on at an elephant’s face alongside the riffs, the drummer often leaps for dexterous fills and jumps from one queer beat to another, and during faster sections you’ll feel it blasting vigorously. ‘’Chronicles Of The Shadowed Ones’’ is a death/doom masterpiece, a stench laden incursion of muscular spasms and monotonous blasts, its horrid ritual ending with the agonized, lycanthropic howls of the bleak nine minute ‘’Moupho Alde Ferenc Yaborov (In the Land of the Vampire Ferenczy)’’, an ghastly, inhuman hymn.  The debut is a classic death metal monstrosity, but this EP belongs up there with the masters of harrowing monotony, amongst Winter, Incantation and dISEMBOWELMENT.

Highlights:

''The Cruciform Hills''

''Cairn Of Dimitru''

''Sings Of Gehenna''

Final Rating:

[9.0/10] Masterpiece

Torchure - Beyond The Veil [1992]

Torchure were actually quite a promising death metal band, alongside some of their fellow countryman Jumpin’ Jesus, Morgirion and Atrocity (who unfortunately leaned towards Goth later on), but they were also one of those short lived bands, disbanding just a few years after  their creation. Civilisations become destroyed too, but their culture and creations live on forever, which just might be the case with Torchure. This, their debut album is probably the better known and the better of the two consecutive releases they unleashed, bringing Torchure’s prime elements on the last on table; a doomy cluster of unbridled thrash and death, joining to exhale a depressive bombard of riffs, doom-laden, yet surprisingly vigorous.

The album has queer song structures, and with such as mash up of death, thrash and somewhat melodious doom, they almost fabricate their own distinct sound, one that’s different from the US and Swedish old school death metal scenes for a change.  With such ambitious textures set, the band proves to be much more dexterous and experimental than many other groups who dwelled during the same time, but their efforts also effects the way the album moves, and with the subtle doom metal worshiping done and the nearly fifty minute album length, ‘’Beyond The Veil’’ turns into a laggard of an album, cauterizing and encompassing the victim very, very slowly. And due to its length, this record is something that you definitely have to spend your time with, so that you may fully comprehend the absurd structures behind the plain, comprehensible riffs.

The sluggish approach may be irrelevant at times, but it also relieves the listener from any sort of depressing, or moody need, like a recompense for the long, drudgy moments. The guitar tone is really a nice addition, because its somewhere between chubby, gritty and thin, and once the leads of melodies jump in, the tone blankets itself in an even nicer, warm, subtle and oozy tone with a little bit of cavernous melancholy even. And like I said, Torchure are more adventurous than many other acts of their time, and they’re unafraid to insert tons of drowning melodies on top of their crunchy riffs, serving as even more captivating hooks than usual, and of course, proving that the band isn’t at all inept in musicianship.

The percussion is well done, nothing more, but the vocals are exceedingly filthy and grotesque growls and rasps, and even gurgles when the vocalist drenches himself in repugnance. But the album as a whole is not really murky and even filthy for that matter, but doomy, ponderous and mighty, laden with musical prowess.  Throughout the whopping fifty minutes of doom-oriented death/thrash, you’ll find a fairly extensive amount of variation; sometimes you’ll feel the brisk attitude of thrash leaping in, like on ‘’Abysmal Malevolence’’ or ‘’In His Grip’’, while melody freaks will profoundly love ‘’Depressions’’, but the ultra opus of the record is the eleven minute doom metal epic ‘’Resort To Mortality’’, a transcendental slab of traumatizing riffs, and don’t forget that wherever you go, keyboards are always going to follow you. ‘’Beyond The Veil’’ stands out as a peculiar and gripping release, and for people who enjoy its dragging monotony more than me, it's a delicious feast. 

Highlights

''In His Grip''

''Resort To Mortality''

''Apathetic''

Final Rating

Awesome [8.5/10]

Deteriorot - Manifested Apparitions Of Unholy Spirits [1993] (Ep)

Judging from the album art, album title and logo font, I'm sure any dedicated old school death metal fan would know what to expect from this, although some still may be blown away be the sheer force and compelling heft of the music on Deteriorot's debut Ep, ''Manifested Apparitions Of Unholy Spirits''. Deteriorot are fairly obscure even though they released a monolith of an old school death/doom album in 2001, and a second in 2010, and I still find it hard not to mention these guys when the topic is top-notch old school death metal bands, and it's even more surprising how many underground fans scarcely talk of them. This is blasphemous, dense, incredibly ghastly and even grooving death metal, right from the pits and crypts of abominations.

The main influence is the deep, cavernous Incantation influence, hidden under pretty much every riff and every aspect of the music. Another great element that Deteriorot possess is that they tend to fuse the thick Incantation-esque riffs with a bludgeoning thrash influence, and even some Finnish mystery and gloom is safely installed into the crushing, grooving death/doom riffs, providing with a good amount of variation throughout the eleven minute Ep. Delicious riffs are aplenty if that's what you seek, but like the abyss sprinkled aura of the cover art, the music is a burden of atmosphere, mainly coming from the comprehensible, yet somewhat muffled spray of the production. Alongside the atmosphere and aura, the satisfying feel of the riffs also stand out as crucial elements, because the riffs are full and tasty, nutritious enough to cease your ravenous rage for a good while.

There are two tracks, and nothing more, so I'd say this Ep acts a sort of warm up to ready listeners against the real beast, ''In Ancient Beliefs''. The title track is a looming, brooding, gloomy piece of oppressive death/doom monstrosity, with well executed passages and Autopsy-esque, blood chilling guitar thrills, while ''The Afterlife'' has copious amounts of grooving Incantation riffs ready at its command, engaging and depriving with each blow. Unfortunately, their debut crosses the whole ''old-school'' line which is marked at 2000, but if you liked this, you have no excuse for not checking out the full-length. This is blood and blasphemy soaked evil, heavy as fuck death metal, so do your ears some good and listen to it right now.

Highlights
''Manifested Apparitions Of Unholy Spirits''
''The Afterlife''

Final Rating
Awesome [8.6/10]

Disciples Of Mockery - Prelude To Apocalypse [1999]

The late 90's weren't half as bountiful as the early 90's in terms of old school death metal, and that timeline mainly consisted of bands basically copying their elder masters and repeating the same style, and the funny part is, they weren't really pockets of bands coming out from the abyss. Some followed the path of the Swedish death metallers while some liked to toy with the despicable aesthetics that were originated by the almighty Incantation, a band which sprayed death and blasphemy throughout the 90's. My first impression of Disciples Of Mockery was simple: Incantation. But little did I know that the band actually consisted of former members of Incantation. Now, these are people who helped write and construct the astonishing masterpiece of horror and evil, ''Onward To Golgotha'', and obviously, much of early Incantation's style and haunting maliciousness flows in the veins of ''Prelude To Apocalypse'', so yes, get your hopes high about it.

It truly does fit in perfectly, ''Prelude To Apocalypse'' could have been the continuation of the infamous masterpiece, because it follows the exact path that ''Onward'' did, only with some nuances and slightly differing production quality. The riffs and riff patterns are blatant if you're familiar to Incantation (and who isn't?), spastic tremolo pickings with dual guitars performing eerie harmonies on top of the dense, chubby production quality. I can't say whether riffs stand out or not, though I can say that they vary from time to time. The shadowing tremolo sections may reign supreme as they outshine and outnumber any other style or aspect of the music, but sludgy passages of doom laden death metal is also a popular trend that keeps jumping into the intensified music. ''An Endless Pursuit For A Satisfying Pain'' is such a track where the whole of the riffs are set to move upon a sludgy track them lowers their velocity to turtle speed. And the third most prominent element used in the construction of the riffs is that black metal influence, a fluctuating current of chaos and sheer melancholy, but sections like these are limited compared to their counterparts.

Some may find the album too overwhelming and too boring or may tend to loose focus when aggression is omitted, especially when doom metal sections are preferred more, but for heav'n's sake people, that's the beauty of it! Passion is just as critical as brutality in albums like this, and its much harder a task to perfect it than perfecting aggression and raw energy. You get as brutal as you like, but if one attribute is excluded from the mixture of passion and melancholy, your whole experiment dies at your feet. ''Dogma'' is one track I have to suggest for death-oriented black metal fans, as it embraces the ancient art of black metal with a hint of death metal savagery and some additional heft. The drums is another notable gear while making the clockwork move viscously, they tend to create some excellent fills to link doom laden chords together. Overall, I doubt any fan of hefty doom, death or maybe even doom-driven black will hate this. ''Prelude To Apocalypse'' is yet another lost gem that bestirs doom, black and death metal bombastically.It's blasphemous, melancholic and filled with disdain. ''Onward To Golgotha 2'', I would say.

Highlights
''Literal Upheaval Of The Earth''
''God Of Love''
''Behold The Holy Virgin Whore''

Final Rating
Awesome [8.8/10]

Purtenance - Member Of Immortal Damnation [1992]

As you may already know, the Finnish death metal scene was a scene just as monstrous as the Swedish and American scene, yet for some reason, Finnish bands never got the recognition they needed. Although many Finnish bands sounded similar to Swedish bands, little notice that they actually have a distinctive sound of their own, and maybe that was the reason they despised and excluded. Purtenance, a band which was formerly known as Purtenance Avulsion, is a band that can easily add up to that list of unappreciated yet awesome death metal bands. Truly, Purtenance carry out that vile, atmospheric, melancholic Finnish DM signature sound perfectly, and this a record that definitely should be praised more as it carves out that gnawing, crushing death/doom tone and fuses it with the melancholy of the Finnish trademark sound.

This album's depressing, filthy and rotten, and it's certainly not for the weak. Each blow of each riff is a drowning mammoth, a huge foot that buries the listener deep within it's inundating atmosphere, and each riff is just as crushing as it's depressing. The raw production quality and gnawing chainsaw guitar tone is also highly prevalent, yet, surprisingly, none of the instruments drown one another in that filthy mix since all of them are given equal amounts of space to consume, and the vocals are another tasty aspect that bludgeons the listener with grindcore-ish pukes and gnarls.  One great thing about these Finnish death metallers is that they always tend to incorporate a fair amount of sinister melodies to increase the diversity of the riffs, and Purtenance is no exception. During the sequences which adopt more of a doom metal sound, brooding melodies fly in the air and spread chaos upon the riffs, giving a beautiful sense of feeling and passion to the listener while still haunting him/her. Not up for sluggish riffs? Well, don't worry, because ''Member Of Immortal Damnation'' has lots of fast paced riffs in store, just as much as it has doom laden passages. ''In The Misty Morning'' is one galloping death/thrash monster that bestirs that raw guitar tone with some Asphyx crunchiness and a hint of Bolt Thrower grooving. Yummy indeed.

The best quality of the music here is that the speed of the riffs constantly change, so you've got lots OSDM tremolo bursts, and numerous death/doom sections. Everything on this album is totally obscured and every aspect is altered by the atmosphere, which may actually put off lots of people, but that's just the way the Finnish DM scene rolls. What else can I say? ''Member Of Immortal Damnation'' draws influences from many variations of death and doom metal, from the depressing lament on ''Black Vision'', to the mid paced Bolt Thrower grooving found on ''In The Misty Morning'' to volatile barrage of tremolo pickings on ''Crown Waits The Immortal'', each track comes with its own beauty, its own bitter aroma that's good enough to compete with even the biggest of Finnish bands like Convulse or Demigod. ''Member Of Immortal Damnation'' is definitely up there, up there with all the exalted releases that helped build death/doom.

Highlights
''Crown Waits The Immortal''
''In The Misty Morning''
''Deep Blue Darkness''

Final Rating
Masterpiece [9.1/10]

Rippikoulu-Musta Sermonia (Demo) [1993]

Rippikoulu was such an obscure group that they couldn't even be considered as one of the second/third tier Finnish DM bands like Funebre or Purtenance. For those who have witnessed the repugnancy of the demo, "Musta Sermonia," Rippikoulu remains as a true hidden underground gem, burried deep within years of mainstream culture and modern varieties of Finnish metal. The Fins always had love for the doomy, brooding melodies that they used in their death metal and frankly death/doom is what these guys excel in. If you like the filthy death metal sound of Finland, and if you are used to hearing it, then you'll know damn well what this demo sounds like.

The extremely thick and fuzzy tone applied on the guitars is oppressing enough and when the sluggish, deppresive melodies and atmosphere are added to the already dense combination, the heft of the album becomes unbearably heavy. The riffs are mostly lo-paced death/doom monsters, twisted grotesqueries that stumble and crush everything in their path with incredible heft. Paces vary at times, and become quite entertaining when they all of a sudden turn into vicious blast beats and ultimately enjoyable, headbang-friendly tremolo assaults, though sequences like these are terribly outnumbered by the doomy dirges that enshadow the whole demo. Fortunately, anyone who has already came for sluggish death/doom from this record will just take the lack of tempo variation with a grain of salt. The only thing that stops the demo from reaching absolute perfection, is the lack of originality. If I were listening to a vigorously catchy record with dynamic riffage, I wouldn't mind this flaw at all, but when we're talking about heavy, dark and depressive death/doom, the situation gets abrasive simply because no matter how many times you search the demo you can't find a collosal deviation from the same pervasive sounds, widespread around the demo.

When it comes to flaws, that's the only flaw I can think of. Other than that ''Musta Sermonia'' is absolutely disgusting death metal, unpolished and blunt as a rock. It contains extra striking features such as doomy, brooding melodies, monstrous vocals and an engulfing atmosphere that helps the demo out a lot for the most part, always keeping the listener at the edge of his/her seat no matter how depressing the riffs are. The Finnish death metal masters always have a haunted, repugnant feel to them, but only few can execute it in the way Rippikoulu did, and fewer can be as depressingly ominous.

Highlights
''Kadonneet Jumalat''
''Anteeksiannon Synkkä Varjo''

Final Rating
Masterpiece [9.0/10]

Mangled Torsos - Drawings of the Dead [1994]

Let me just start off this review by stating that this record is some weird death metal. No, that's probably an understatement, seriously this is some abstract music, yet I like it. It's not weird in an overly technical kind of way, though these Germans definitely know how to play their instruments, but in just the way they structure their music, as well as random little nuances that appear throughout. The general weird atmosphere on "Drawings of the Dead" is probably a good selling point for these guys, as they are unique, but it also serves as a hindrance on this record (More on that later). 

First off, the vocals on here are something that immediately jump out at the listener. On the first track of this record, "Unsuspecting Sacrifice," the listener is treated with some dark melodies that loom over some heavy chords, but you can't help notice the growls that are also being spewed out of the singer's mouth as they don't really add anything to the already bleak intro, they're just there. The twin vocal assault on this album is ever so present, as one of them (I'm not sure which) sounds a lot like Chris Barnes. The growls are plenty heavy, but at the same time they're rather coherent and understandable, while the other singer sounds more like his fellow countrymen who use their guttural vocals more so for thrash, but the same effect is present here and it sounds great. 

The riffs on this album mainly gravitate towards the midpaced side of things and they're usually pretty doomy as well. The doomy riff that kicks off the title track is quite good and transitions into the fantastic riff right after flawlessly. The songs "Dereanged Body Love" and "Malignant Tumor" also have some stellar riffs that should have no problem in getting your headbanging in the midst of the doomy interludes and dark atmosphere. One reason for this atmosphere is because of the melodies that can be found throughout "Drawings of the Dead." The track "Dissemble" does a fine job of raising the hair on the back of your neck with its chilling melodies that slither along underneath the ridiculously heavy vocals. 

Now remember the beginning of this review when I said that this album is, for lack of a better word, weird? Yeah, it is. It isn't just the switch between the Barnes like vocals and the guttural attack from the other vocalist, that isn't really uncommon, but it's mainly from the odd structures among other things. Other things like the use of acoustic guitars in the middle of the songs. This alone isn't weird, just not very ordinary for death metal bands but Mangled Torsos manages to mix their softer side particularly well to add to the overall feel of the music, especially on the song "Lost Emotions." While the acoustic guitar isn't completely alone, it's backed by the heavy chords and fronted by the heavier vocals, but it works out. However, it didn't really work on the title track. After being treated with some top notch riffs, the song turns into a showcase for the acoustic guitar as it plays on its own for quite a while and dominates the song for the most part. Luckily, it returns to the high level it was at earlier, but one has to wonder just how great this song would have been if the acoustic section was shortened or even taken out completely. Another odd moment on "Drawings of the Dead" was the track "Morphea." It starts off with a great riff and just when you think it's going to pick up, the riff is still there and the vocalist is growling like a rabid wolf. The same riff carries on for two minutes and nothing changes, which is sad because the riff is damned good. 

In the end, Mangled Torsos delivered an album that not only stands out, but manages to retain a sense of ingenuity that ensures "Drawings of the Dead" is the kind of album that strikes you as abnormal at first and one that could have been better, but also shows promise that it will grow on you and become a record that often appears in your rotation. 

Highlights

"Drawings of the Dead"

"Deranged Body Love"

"Malignant Tumor"

Final Rating

Awesome [8.2/10] 

Paul Chain - Life and Death [1989]

When I think of Italy, I mostly think of all the great food and doom metal to come from there. Paul Chain is no exception when it comes to absolutely amazing, eccentric doom metal. Paul Chain is an extremely experimental musician who tends to take aspects of the spacey progressive rock (similar to that of the band Goblin, as you'd here in the intro for the album, "Steel Breath") and blend it in with traditional and epic doom metal that isn't as heavy as a band like Candlemass unfortunately, but it's still excellent.

What the music lacks in heaviness, it makes up for it in brilliant progression and just overall great doom metal. Songs like "Antichrist" and "Kill Me" bleed absolute true doom while other songs like "Ancient Caravan" and "My Hills" sound like folk music blended with Black Sabbath. There is a very strong Black Sabbath influence all over this album in the music that meshes together with Paul Chain's melancholic moans and cries to make the epitome of sorrow. The best way to describe the sound on this album would be "traditional epic progressive heavy/doom metal." What a mouthful, eh ladies? The riffs are all pretty slow but they gallop along with the album in a way that keeps you hooked while the vocals are often sung in a way that sounds similar to Messiah Marcolin's epic cries of doom. However, they tend to have some moments where it's quite close to a rough kind of lower vocals that I am not sure what to compare it to.

The experimentation on the album has it all over the place within the genre of doom but it flows together nicely, as contradictory as that sounds. There's influences from traditional doom, epic doom, Black Sabbath and that spacey progressive rock. Paul Chain, is a musical mastermind and is extremely underrated. For shame, world. For shame.

Highlights

"Antichrist"

"My Hills"

"Kill Me"

Final Rating 

Awesome [8.9/10]