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Morbus Chron: Sweven
20/02/14 || Ironpants
Are you ready people? Here’s a thought for you. I’ve noticed a trend here in Sweden, a trend that at least so far only Swedish bands are participating in. And I don’t think it is a deliberate sellout trend, more of a subconscious trend and a direction several younger bands in Sweden are following, just because they are on to something good and creative. We have seen (or heard rather) this with several bands lately. Tribulation went from a standard, but really good, debut of old school death metal to a progressive experimental side on their second release. In Solitude went from a couple of albums of traditional occult heavy metal that paid great tribute to Mercyful Fate into a complete different direction with ‘Sister’. Even Watain have turned their ship onto a more experimental route with a kind of “progressiveness”, expanding their boundaries. Yes, dear world. Are you ready? Because I think Sweden has launched the next wave of a lesson in “This is how you do it!!”
The next release in this wave of extreme make over metal is Morbus Chron: they also have released a debut of old school death metal, maybe a bit dirtier than the ordinary classic Swedeath, but still very much recognizable as OSDM. And now this? “Sweven”? What the hell is a “Sweven”? Is it “Sweden” pronounced by a drunken harelip? No, apparently it is the old English word for “dream” or “vision”, and when listening to the album, it all makes sense.
Forget all about their first album, their sophomore release is way out there in space, a long way from home, in a galaxy far far away… Have you seen the classic Disney movie “Fantasia”? Of course you have, when that movie was re-released in 1969, the cinema operators had problems with visitors cranked up on shrooms and ganja swarming the theaters high as kites, trying to get the best seats. This album is like “Fantasia”, just in the same manner as Disney did it, Morbus Chron first released some normal shit just to get you interested, and then when you think you’re safe… blam! A complete turnaround and you just sit there wondering what the hell happened? The music is experimental, psychedelic, progressive and strange. By the way, I think “Fantasia” is great because it is so spacey and out there, and it is like a two hour long drug commercial.
The album starts out with “Berceuse”, a song that you might take for a very long intro, but it interlaces seamlessly with “Chains” and when the vocals kicked in somewhere around the minute mark, I had too sit up straight and concentrate a bit more. What is going on here? The style has transformed into some psychedelic-influenced extreme rock, and if it wasn’t for the vocals, you’d might take this for some contemporary style of artsy progressive hard rock. It is very apparent that the band has gone through a serious make over, not only in how they write songs but also changing the total atmosphere and it is safe to say that this will not appeal to all of their old fans.
Yes, there are small traces of classic death metal here and there (besides the voice), and if you’re really lucky, you can catch remnants of it in “Aurora in the offering” which is the nearest ascendant of their old style, but if I didn’t know it, I could never have guessed it was them. The songs are written in such ways that you don’t know what to make out of them. My feelings for this album swing both ways, one second I enjoy it to the fullest and the next second I’m almost pissed off. Who do they think they are? It could be the fact that I don’t really understand it, but that’s a feeling I’m not comfortable with, as I usually know everything. Come on, I’ve been listening to all kinds of music for over 40 decades – how is it possible that I shouldn’t understand everything from the get go?? Or, have they actually composed some stuff that isn’t really for me to understand? My old soggy brain may actually have started to shut down? Am I finally getting old and can’t appreciate a new style of music to the fullest? Have today’s kids found a way to get to me?
There are absolutely moments on the album that are really good, “Towards a dark sky” presents a cool build-up and also ‘It stretches in the hollow’ is a very good example on how they evolved from a straight forward OSDM-band into a more exploring act.
The album is produced by Fred Estby and the sound on the album is by death metal standards very “warm” and has a slight acoustic touch to it that sends hints both towards the darker side of metal AND towards a retro sound. The guitars sound “naked” and the drum-kit sounds recorded “as is” with big cymbals and a very washy ride. I personally don’t really like this kind of production, but it certainly sets a certain kind of mood for the album and I suppose we have to deal with it?
Well, here’s my conclusion. This is really a unique kind of record, and it proves once again that a band can make a turn in their career a little too soon. They have transformed a bit too fast for their own good, and there are a lot of bands that have made that in the past. On their quest to make a memorable record, they have actually made the opposite. It is a little bit to spacey and “out there”, and I have a hard time remembering any of the songs even after listening to it ten times. It could be me though, not really grasping the idea that they are trying to promote… but I think not! I really tried to like this more than I did, but if you are one of those that enjoy adventures and also find pleasures in the unknown and experimental, this could be your album of the year, but I am afraid that this is going under section “Interesting, but not flabbergasting”.
- Information
- Released: 2014
- Label: Century Media Records
- Website: Morbus Chron Facebook
- Band
- Robert Andersson: vocals, guitars
- Edvin Aftonfalk: lead guitar, vocals
- Dag Landin: bass
- Adam Lindmark: drums
- Tracklist
- 01. Berceuse
- 02. Chains
- 03. Towards a dark sky
- 04. Aurora in the offering
- 05. It stretches in the hollow
- 06. Ripening life
- 07. The perennial link
- 08. Solace
- 09. Beyond life’s sealed abode
- 10. Terminus
