The blackened death/thrash project Morbikon have unleashed their new album Lost Within The Astral Crypts out via Tankcrimes. The band hold members from a variety of other groups such as Municipal Waste, …And Oceans, and Uada. Emulating the sound of so many 90’s black and melodic death metal bands, Morbikon released their debut album Ov Mournful Twilight in 2022 which received generally flavorful praise. Now the band has returned to release what they consider one of their strongest and most profane records to date. Bassist Phill Hall says, “This album feels like some of my darkest material yet.”
Right from the get-go, this album takes a much more death metal-oriented approach in comparison to Ov Mournful Twilight. While the thrash elements aren’t lost on this record there is a much stronger sense of technical precision in comparison to the abounding chaos of the previous album. This change up in tone does offer each musician a bit more of a chance to shine in their own way. The drums have a much stronger and galloping sound throughout the record that really stands out. The riffs that abound on this album can leave you windmilling yourself to death in a violent headbanging fury. Even the dual vocals of Mathias Lilmåns and Quotidius manage to really tear through with their throat shredding screams.
Each song on this album can cater to fans of a variety of different genres at any given moment. People looking for that old Scandinavian black metal sound will find joy in tracks like“Masters of Eternal Night,” whereas other tracks like “Ghoul Infested Mausoleum” have a much more distinct and sharper death thrash approach. The title track itself sounds like a tribute to many founding melodic black metal bands such as Sacramentum, Vinterland, etc. But while the diversity amongst tracks on this album is enjoyable, I feel that it can also work against it at times. The variety in the songs can at times hold the band back from having a distinct sound that I can take away from the album.
While Morbikon recreate the familiar sound of ’90’s blackened death thrash in a very enjoyable way, I feel this album fails to carve its own path. And I know the old adage “If it’s not broke don’t fix it,” which, in this case, I mostly agree with. Lost Within The Astral Crypts is a great album to bang your head to, and it’s chock full of insane riffs, but don’t expect it to go and re-invent the wheel.
