Saturday, June 2, 2012

Morgirion - Infinite Retribution Upon Paradise


Just look at the beauty of that cover. A skeletal necromancer holding two ghastly, cosmic orbs in its hand, glancing at you with dead, grim eyes, seeking the conjuration cosmic evil and impurity, blasphemy, much like the music that it possesses. Morgirion are surprisingly an unsigned band, though their debut album ''Infinite Retribution Upon Paradise'' shows technical proficiency, control over the instruments and a wickedly constructed atmosphere in which the riffs are soaked in, all providing substantial amounts of brooding evil and charred beauty, also altered by a fluctuating tube of infinite riffs, both chaotic and compellingly well written, never lacking originality or additional material. Morgirion basically churn together bestial black metal with ultimately heavy and menacing death metal with some additional atmospheric black metal aesthetics performed in several places to to increase ambiance. Just as the music is chaotic and engulfing, its cantankerous slabs of agile black metal give it a semi professional edge, resulting in intricate riffing, rather than straightforward chord harassing.

Pending at over an hour, Morgirion offers pure statically charged black metal mayhem all the way, mostly eagerly pursuing the prey with full speed. Speed may be a common friend to all in general, but various structures and aspects gather in various places, so every song or maybe even every riff, is a man of its own. The rabid, vicious assault released by primordial beasts like ''Purification Through Fire'' are less resonant, and more diverse pieces of pulsating death/black, usually rawer and less polished than other elements, having an even Portal-esque vibe, obvious from the downright evil, fleshy riffing, and more solemn, desolate aesthetics belong to atmosphere laden tracks such as ''And Ode To Fallen Cowards'' or the nine minute ''Exiled From The Light'', each unavoidably projecting a small hint of peevish demeanor, if not displaying complete savagery and bestiality. The fact that some riffs are extremely spacious, more comprehensible and some are boxier, and packed indulgently into a certain area already makes huge differences for music, so every shift of the music opens the door for something almost completely different.

Besides having such velocity and a huge level of spiking aggression, Morgirion manage to keep the riffs under control, but unlike strictly restrained bands out there, the corrosive riffing are only held by loosened chains and manacles, enabling them to roam and descend and ascend freely towards any direction that they like. And under the blasphemous evoking of decaying beauty thump the drums, well performed all the way with substantial amounts of fills and blast beats, but at first, they're really not that easy to notice, most probably because their ambiance is too much as it's mostly buried under the thick, dense fog of resonant pulses, failing to fully thrust and dash through the boxy layer. It's abrasive, how the drums may sometimes get lost under the indulging layer, but you'll get use to it within a few songs. The vocals are also resonant, and they shift through different tones, either muffled, cookie monster vocals (which occur at seldom), or more guttural, throaty rasps, like a typical black metal rasp, only foggier and more twisted.

I'm not saying the music is overflowing with vivacity, but with chord driven attacks, entwining and colliding with each other or savage blows of tormenting screams with plenty of atmosphere to them, some sequences of ''Infinite Retribution Upon Paradise'' are much more dynamic than many of its atmospheric counterparts. It's completely frenzied, yet still intelligently constructed, and the dots of differing attributes tend to make the album a richer, an even more hooking experience, dripping a liquid of flamboyance upon the charred bits of corrosive acid. It's cosmic and dazzling as well as it's professionally written and composed, and surprising technical cunning is hidden under and between the crude riffs, it may not hold all of the listener's attention throughout due to its hypnotic numbing effect, but its hooks will certainly mangle a good amount of flesh. This is an excellent monument of atmosphere and ear blasting black metal hostility combined, and fans of any sort of black metal should give this a shot before switching into something else.

Highlights:
The Final Incantation
Purification Through Fire
Pyroclastic Warfare


Rating: 86%

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