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MORBIKON “Lost Within The Astral Crypts”
MORBIKON “Lost Within The Astral Crypts”
By: Lord Randall
Composed of members of bands as often intolerable as MUNICIPAL WASTE and UADA, yet also as underappreciated as GOATGOR and as forward-thinking as …AND OCEANS, MORBIKON either has a lot going for it or is an accident waiting to happen on its second, “Lost Within The Astral Crypts”. While 2022’s “Ov Mournful Twilight” was solid “enough” patch of sonic real estate , ’25 finds the lineup shifting, Dave “I’ve been in every band under the sun” Witte relinquishing his drum throne to Pierce Williams of the aforementioned UADA, Toby Swope being replaced by GOATGOR’s Blake Hibberd, lineup scattered hither and yon ‘cross this globe of ours…which begs the question; does it Black Metal? Can such a wide-ranging lineup make you feel like you’re warming your hands in the glow of a burning stave church?
After a stumbling start “Heavens That Burn And Eons Divided” cranks up, treble guitars typical of the early ‘90s style MORBIKON seeks so determinedly, forgoing the pristine for a more raw and rough-edged attack suiting the graveled rasp/snarls of Mathias “Vreth” Lillmåns. “Unending Legions Of Baal” is crisp in tone, the Hibberd/Guilliams duo doing their damnedest to usher in a new ice age with their axes alone, while the drumwork of Pierce Williams ignites “Flames That Bind And Shadows Cast”, a tune with a riff [0:58-1:26] worthy of Quorthon himself or, MONGREL’S CROSS (think “Arcana, Scrying And Revelation” if you need a more current reference), joining with Hall’s kvlt as fuck bass rumblings to create a tune that conjures ancestral greatness and drags it kicking and howling into 2025.
Cataclysmic and rabid, “Numerical Portal Ascendency” continues the tirade, Vreth employing some of his …AND OCEANS tricks, the rest of the band along for the carnival ride, tasteful dual leads popping up, the latter section blissfully and bloodily reminiscent of ENGLISH DOGS, a comparison yours truly would never make lightly. “Masters Of Eternal Night” creeps, slither-skulks, hissing unseen through the fog-shrouded soundscape crafted by the fivesome, through the “Ghoul Infested Mausoleum” and into the nearly eight-minute closer and title track of “Lost Within The Astral Crypts”.
Wide-ranging without becoming meandering, doom-drenched at its start, Scandinavian in the TWIN OBSCENITY style (remember them? More people should!) in its middle, fluid solo work and a quite intriguing bridge to travel towards its furious finale, “Lost Within…” does its job perfectly by drawing closed the blood soaked, starry curtain on its namesake, leaving us with an album that is sure to stand the test of time. And oh, yeah…it Black Metals.
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