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Morpheus Descends: Ritual of infinity

18/08/09 || Habakuk

Let me get this out of the way: What a hideously butt-fucken-ugly cover!! The Metal-Archives say:

“The artwork for “Ritual of Infinity”, was painted by noted underground, and surrealist artist Brad Moore, who went on to do hundreds of horror comic books, museum designs, tile murals, film and commercial work, and an exhibit with master artist H.R.Giger.”

I hope he didn’t go on with death metal album covers. What an abomination! And on the re-release (including the “Adipocere” EP) it’s even uglier! We’re indeed entering the realms of the surreal here, but i’ve seen it with my own eyes. For your safety, Captain Internet even made sure the biggest version to be found on google is 150×150 pixels. And he’s not exactly the most dutiful guardian, let me tell you that. Anyway, let’s put on some medical gloves, get the disc out of the tray and let’s talk music… What a ridiculously crappy production!! These guys obviously don’t believe in leaving a good first impression, because after treating listeners with a disgustingly bad cover, this album itself greats them with a production job almost in the “Breeding the spawn” league, including a thin, scratching guitar sound, low, low, low volume, muffled drums, you name it.

Good job, Morpheus Descends, very impressive. That should have scared everyone off by now.

They certainly don’t make it easy for the listener, but behind these obvious flaws lies an absolutely great album that combines an Incantation-like, sinister vibe with gut-wrenching midtempo groove and varied heaviness à la Suffocation. Morpheus Descends play slimy, dragging New York death metal that quickly surrounds you with its vile ugliness once you’ve gotten over the initial shock. When not really paying attention, they’ll probably indeed make Morpheus descend upon you, but that’s more due to the sound than the songs, which are pretty awesome. And I don’t even think it’s a bad thing, this stuff is equally good to listen to when fully awake as when falling asleep. B-but, how is this possible? Easy (or not), it’s the result of combining hypnotically humming guitar layers with some low-end owed to the audible bass guitar and actual killer riffs.

Parts like the heavy, meandering groove in “Corpse under glass” around 45 seconds into the song or the slowly crushing end to the title track showcase nothing but absolutely perfect flow. Also, the singer bears a lot of resemblance to early Immolation’s Ross Dolan, and that’s a giant bonus in my book. If you try, you can make out what he says, if not, he just blends in with the instrumental buzzing.
So, if you can get over a muddy production and if you think you’d enjoy an insanely groovy version of Incantation, you might be in for a treat. As much as I’d love to hear this with a good production, I think the hollow sound on this album actually adds a lot to it, and that’s something I don’t throw around too often. Just schedule in a bit of time to give it more than one spin.

Points get subtracted for the stupid intro to “Proclaimed creator”, though. If you have great flow, don’t ruin it by inserting shit like this Frankenstein quote or whatever it is.

7,5

Information
Released: 1992
Label: J.L. America/Xtreem Music
Website: www.morpheusdescends.com
Band
Jeff Reimer: vocals
Rob Yench: guitars
Steve Hanson: guitars
Ken Faggio: bass
Sam Inzerra: drums

Tracklist
01. The way of all flesh
02. Corpse under glass
03. Immortal coil
04. Trephanation
05. Proclaimed creator
06. Accelerated decrepitude
07. Submerged in adipocere
08. Enthralled to serve
09. Ritual of infinity

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