If, for some reason, you were on a quest to find the world’s heaviest band, you couldn’t go wrong to include Morbid Evils in the nominations. A death-themed sludgefest laid out in six ‘cases’, the Finnish band’s second album sees them evolve from a more-than-capable death metal-ridden sludge outfit into an entirely more dynamic group with a knack for churning out a unique and intensely violent brand of riff-driven bedlam.
Debut album In Hate With The Burning World succeeded in creating a substantially bleak and incendiary listen, sure, but Deceases takes things even deeper into the abyss. Like grindcore played in slow motion, the album is coated in the thickest black tar imaginable as it drives forward at sluggish paces with brutish force. Deceases’ style is raw and unbridled, but it is also twisted and, at times, borders on psychedelia as alien noises and gnarly downtuned guitars work together to provide a strangely captivating form of monstrosity.
Never has an album’s sound so well personified its theme – like death, there is no forgiveness here. There is precious little in the way of salvation also, as the band explore a uniquely minimalist approach to heaviness. Waves of droning guitars swirl malevolently over earthquake-inducing drums and throat-shredding yells to create a sweltering sound sure to make any claustrophobic twinge. It may be easiest to label it sludge, but if drone met grind it would probably resemble this.
Morbid Evils are not brooding post-metallers or experimental doomsters tinkering with notions of subtlety and slow-building tracks – they’re gut-punching heavyweights exploring every sonic definition of hatred. There are undoubtedly many out there just as capable of proving gargantuan guitars and pummelling percussion of the optimum variety, but the band’s idiosyncrasies help them paint an original and unparalleled mural of utter anguish.
Deceases is out August 25th on Svart Records. Purchase here.
Words: George Parr
