Morbus Chron - Sleepers In The Rift (2011) [320] V01dV

Progressive death metal from Sweden, debut full-length album released in 2011.





Starting out from humble origins, Morbus Chron was formed by teenagers Robert Andersson (vocals/guitar), Edvin Aftonfalk (guitar) and Stefan Johansson (drums) in Stockholm 2007. Soon joined by Adam Lindmark (bass), their young minds were set on recreating the atmosphere of death metal pioneers such as Autopsy, Death Strike and Death - something they accomplished already on the impressive 2009 demo recording "Splendour of Disease", which was reeking of dirty patterns of bygone days. After this, Stefan exited the band and Adam took over the drums while Dag Landin (bass) joined the ranks to complete the line-up.

During 2010, Morbus Chron really started to develop their style, and they were also causing a stir within the metal underground with their unrelenting, yet catchy, music. The wonderfully sludgy EP "Creepy Creeping Creeps" led to a contract with Pulverised Records, and what was to become their debut album was recorded in November with Nicke Andersson (Death Breath, ex- Entombed) as producer. When the resulting "Sleepers in the Rift" was finally released in August 2011, it was rightfully praised as a masterpiece of pure death metal of a kind the world hadn't heard in years. With its groovy drum patterns, guttural screams and gritty song structures the album was even giving Autopsy's comeback album a run for the money.

Unlike what others might have done, Morbus Chron then focused on reconstructing their music rather than cashing in on their newfound attention. The band rarely played live, only making appearances at a few selected festivals such as Live Evil, Killtown and Hell's Pleasure - blowing most of their competition of the stage in the process. It wasn't long until Morbus Chron joined the likes of Napalm Death, Watain, Entombed, Marduk and Deicide to complete Century Media's impressive roster. So, just a few years after their formation, Morbus Chron had joined the very elite of the extreme metal world.

Morbus Chron's Century Media debut, the EP "A Saunter through the Shroud", was a revelation upon its release in July 2012, displaying tremendous progression from previous efforts. Instead of playing it safe, sticking to traditional death metal patterns, they had started to transcend the genre to incorporate elements of progressive rock as well as black metal. With patterns oozing of Voivod, Atheist and Darkthrone, as well as Death and Autopsy, Morbus Chron was on their way to something majestic. Possessing unrelenting integrity, the band shunned all trends to go further into the unknown.

As "Sweven" is now about to be unleashed upon the world, Morbus Chron has carved out their very own territory of unorthodox death metal. They have gone far beyond their raw and simple initial style, adding loads of uncanny acoustic parts to create a nightmare world of utter horror. Together with producer Fred Estby (ex- Dismember) the band has found a warm yet haunting sound to go with their vision. The resulting soundscapes spread out like a wasteland of death and terror, sending chills down the hardest of spines. Guitar and drum patterns flow in all kind of directions, building cathedrals of darkness in which Robert's tormented vocals echoes in agony.

Morbus Chron's evolution is probably even more obvious when it comes to the lyrical themes and the artwork. The entire presentation is constructed as an entity, where all the songs are literally linked together in an overall concept of desperation and despair. In addition, artist Raul Gonzales has provided 11 individual paintings for the wonderful packaging. His dreamy, yet uncanny visuals add to the overall impression of a fully accomplished work of pure art - the band’s progression since the gore drenched early days is just amazing.

While many metal bands claim to be breaking new ground these days, Morbus Chron is one of the few who really is. Musically, as well as artistically, they are miles ahead of most of the competition and they are definitely among the bands that make extreme metal matter again. There's a new stench of death rising on the horizon...








2011 Sleepers In The Rift


Tracklist:

1. Through The Gaping Gate / Coughing 2. In A Coffin
3. Creepy Creeping Creep
4. Hymns To A Stiff
5. Red Hook Horror
6. The Hallucinating Dead
7. Ways Of Torture
8. Dead Body Pile Necrophile
9. Lidless Coffin
10. Deformation Of The Dark Matter

Label: Pulverised Records


From the spiraling chaos of its beautiful cover art, to the bare bones and carnal quality of its production, Sleepers in the Rift is one ace goddamn death metal album. The Swedes are admittedly quite retro in their take on the genre, and so one immediately would draw the conclusion that they're yet another in the tireless charade of bands emulating Entombed, Dismember, Carnage, Grotesque, Grave, and their ilk, but they're also one of the few projects I've heard lately that truly overcome the tired stereotypes to produce something effectively grimy and entertaining. Think of them more along the lines of Bastard Priest, Tribulation or Repugnant in their attempt to strip the sound down and slather it in raw, nearly crust-worthy admonition that the niche is dead in its tracks.

For one thing, Sleepers in the Rift is brilliantly paced. There's enough core variation in the riff writing that you never feel inundated with the same thing twice, and the band is not afraid to expand upon the envelope of early 90s Euro death by means of some clinical thrashing or face rocking, morbid doom rhythms. Each of the songs here actually SOUNDS like its title, a fact I find fascinating. "Hymns to a Stiff" is a swaying, swerving tribute to a corpse, forged in loose architecture and appreciable dissonance. One can just feel the mortician's excitement as he or she probes and prods the recently deceased. The doomed, funereal pageantry inherent in a tune called "Lidless Coffin". The spacious, volatile contrivance of of a "Deformation of the Dark Matter", twisted guitar sequences crashing into a spectral void like streams of incoherent and congealed nightmare-stuff, the sustenance of Elder Gods. Or the sheer face rocking of "Ways of Torture", the most old school d-beat inflected trip on the entire album.

All components fuse together in an unholy merger of peak Autopsy (first two albums) and the Swedish pioneers of the late 80s through about 1992. The vocals are abrasive and agonizing, with a good deal of resonant character, almost a midway point between Chuck Schuldiner and L-G Petrov. The drums are organic, constantly crashing and driving the meaty but deliberately under polished guitar tone. The bass is not exactly a high point, granted, but when tracks like the raging "Dead Body Pile Necrophile" or grooving "Red Hook Horror" begin their passage to your cortex, you will quickly lose concern as the album's maw of terror sends you stomach-ward into its abyssal, digestive juices.

What's more, the rather lowborn, silly yet honest lyrical style serves as a strangely functional contrast to the cosmic, extradimensional eye candy and brow raising band name. And both tracks from last year's Creepy Creeping Creeps EP are included, so there's no longer a necessity for tracking that down. Sleepers in the Rift is simply marvelous, retro without ripping from its influences too directly; fresh and ferocious in its pursuit of strong riffing and gelid, mind warping atmospheres. It's 1990 all over again, and one of the more compelling takes on the popular Swedish death niche since Repugnant's Epitome of Darkness, or The Horror by Tribulation a few years ago.