Album review: MORBUS CHRON – Sweven

April 11th, 2014 by Yiannis

Century Media – Out Now.

Death, Autopsy, Voivod, Darkthrone. These are names that have helped shape the history and character of extreme Metal throughout the decades and whose music has and continues to influence hundreds, if not thousands, of young bands around the globe. Once such band is the Swedish technical quartet Morbus Chron.

Formed in Stockholm back in 2007, the technical skills of this musically varied group soon attracted the attention of labels worldwide but it was Germany’s Century Media which managed to lure them into her extended musical family.

Now, two years after the release of their debut “Sleepers In The Rift”, these fine Norsemen have unleashed a new slab of brutal but rhythmically challenging material under the title “Sweven” (Old-English for Dream).

Morbus Chron’s second full length release is an interesting album for many different reasons. By crossing into the realms of Death and Black Metal, it is capable of attracting as much the attention of fans of bands like Autopsy as it does of those affiliated to the unholy arts of Darkthrone.

Riffs are solid and well thought-through, vocals are harsh and eerie and tempos are constantly manipulated to inflict maximum damage on you, the listener. The same need to constantly impress which has added flair and colour to the album is, however, also to blame for some of the more negative aspects of this ten track release.

Bleak harmonies and atmospheric guitar themes are audible throughout this release, but they play a leading role in opening track “Berceuse”. Far more technical in its outlook and with vocal screams influenced by the works of early 90s Darkthrone , “Chains” is a composition whose guitar work shows great signs of maturity on the part of its creators.

While featuring strong structural influences from my beloved Voivod, “Towards A Dark Sky” is, sadly, an unnecessarily complicated affair – something that has clearly been avoided in the more coherent “Aurora In The Offing” which follows suit.

This division between organic and overworked material continues throughout the album with “Ripening Life” and “The Perennial Link” (belonging in the former category), while the duet “It Stretches In The Hollow”/”Beyond Life’s Sealed Abode” clearly leans towards the latter.

The album concludes with a six and a half minute instrumental entitled “Terminus” – a song which showcases the impressive guitar skills of the duet Edvin Aftonfalk / Robert Andersson and which raises one’s hopes for more quality music in future releases.

It is quite rewarding to see young bands like Morbus Chron working hard in order to present us with something new and exciting and, as far as I am concerned, it will not be long before these Swedes truly come of age.

“Sweven” is quite a decent effort which, at times, suffers not from any lack of talent but as a result of its creators perhaps trying too hard to get on our right side. Once this understandable enthusiasm gives way to compositional maturity, and clever melodies begin to mean more than intricate rhythmical arrangements, then we might just all be in for a very nice surprise indeed.

John Stefanis

Rating: ***1/2 (3.5/5.0)

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