### Morbus Chron: Sleepers in the rift

#### 24/01/12 || gk

Morbus Chron are yet another in the long line of new old school death metal bands and I’m not tired of this style yet. Where Morbus Chron differ from their peers is in the fact that in spite of being from Sweden, the band takes the majority of its influences from early Death, Massacre and Autopsy.

Opener “Through the Gaping Gate/ Coughing in a Coffin” makes the bands influences crystal clear with its raw guitar tone and raspy vocals that hark back to the early 90s. “Creepy Creeping Creep” is the highlight of the album for me with its mid-paced Celtic Frost worship and vocalist Robba’s grunts and bile spewing vocal attack. “Hymns to a Stiff” sounds like Reifert and Schuldiner had a baby and is another nasty sounding discordant little song while “Red Hook Horror” is relentless in its riffing and comes with a slight punk feel. Other kickass songs include “The Hallucinating Death” with its slow doomy intro followed by a groovy Entombed like riff that’s pretty fucking addictive and “Lidless Coffin” which reminds me a fair bit of Massacre.

Guitarists Edde and Robba have big riffs. Yeah, they’re raw and noisy but the riffs are also catchy and loads of fun. The duo also do a great job in adding subtle little touches to break up the constant hammering. Whether its a short melodic interlude in between a couple of proper death metal riffs or slowing things down just a touch with a doomy riff. Often, these changes don’t last for more than a few seconds but they do a terrific job in adding variation to the songs. Robba’s vocals are another high point and while his grunts might invoke Tom G. Warrior, his raspy bile spewing vocal attack is more Reifert than anyone else.

“Sleepers in the Rift” has nothing new going for it. This is basically old school death metal that derives a lot of ideas from the early 90s American death metal scene, throws a nod or two at early Entombed with a rough and ready, slightly punk feel to the playing. What it does have is a lot of killer riffs and catchy songs. This is a band I’m going to keep an eye on and “Sleepers in the Rift” is an album worth checking out.

- Information
- Released: 2011
- Label: Pulverised Records
- Website: Morbus Chron MySpace
- Band
- Robba: vocals, guitars
- Edde: guitars
- Dag: bass
- Adam: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Through the Gaping Gate / Coughing in a Coffin
- 02. Creepy Creeping Creep
- 03. Hymns to a Stiff
- 04. Red Hook Horror
- 05. The Hallucinating Dead
- 06. Ways of Torture
- 07. Dead Body Pile Necrophile
- 08. Lidless Coffin
- 09. Deformation of the Dark Matter