Legendary German death metalers, Morgoth are another perfect example of a band that I've known about for probably a solid decade or so, but just never checked out. Why? No idea. Perhaps because their old releases never popped up in record stores or mail orders, I really don't know, but finding this best of compilation back in early 2011 for a mere $6 meant it was time to finally check out Morgoth and... holy fuck! Why did I wait so long?Morgoth's history dates back to 1987 when the band was originally formed under names, such as; Cadaverous Smell & Minas Morgul, but that same year when Marc Grewe joined up the band finally settled on Morgoth, which is derived from the epithet of the original dark lord Melkor in J.R.R Tolkien’s stories. Morgoth was one of the first bands to sign with Century Media Records and between 1989 to 1993 they were one of the most dominating forces in European death metal. That is until 1996 when they released their final creation, which wasn't metal at all, but some sort of alternative release intended at mainstream success, but they fell right on their faces, hard, with that one.
The comp kicks off with three songs from the, 'Resurrection Absurd' EP from '89 and I can only say this is some of the finest death metal ever conceived. Drawing a great deal of influence from Death's material, these songs are pummeling hell charged numbers of vile malevolence unseen in this modern age. Marc's possessed screams were not to different from Chuck Schuldiner's or John Tardy's vocal delivery and as much as I adore the early Death and Obituary albums I almost feel inclined to give Marc the crown due to how demonic his growls sound when paired up with Morgoth's bludgeoning music.
The following three songs come off of the, 'Eternal Fall' EP from '90 and its much of the same thing, but believe me I have no problem with that. With such distinctive, heavy, evil sounding riffs and killer solos coming from the hands of Harry Busse and Carsten Otterbach I could very likely headbang to this onslaught all day long. I must also point out that Marc's bass work is quite well done too as it doesn't simply follow the guitar and Rüdiger Hennecke's walloping drums and occasionally keyboard work serves to really spice things up further, in particular, 'White Gallery' & 'Pits Of Utumno,' which are just beyond awesome.
Next up is three tracks from the full length debut album, 'Cursed' from '91 and at the time Death Metal was more or less at its peak and wasn't necessarily an underground thing any longer and as such bands like Morgoth were able to take part on some massive tours and festivals as a result. Musically Cursed again wasn't entirely different from past material, some minor doom-ish parts, perhaps less frantic and more focused in style, but definitely intense as always. Three tracks from the sophomore release, 'Odium' follow and, goddamn, the first song, 'Resistance' could very likely be one of the best death metal songs ever recorded, no kidding. The other two songs sound different somehow though, not as death metal all the time and it clearly shows that already Morgoth would be taking their music in a different direction, nevertheless its not bad by any means.
The last three songs on disc 1 of this compilation feature three songs from the bands last album, 'Feel Sorry For the Frantic.' As I already said with this release Morgoth had grown tired of death metal and were hoping to make it on a bigger level with this release, but they failed, and miserably too. Gone were the insane growls, replaced with lame clear singing, and the riffs were not death metal at all, in fact I have no idea how to label this material. Its hardly brutal and with the clean singing its likely they were trying to due something similar to label mates like Tiamat who had constantly evolved during the 90's, but its just sad that such an immense band had to end their career on such a low note, ironically not such a uncommon thing among other death metal bands either.
The second disc contains the, 'Pits of Utumno' demo from '88, which is decent, but the production is not entirely great, Marc's vocals just sound odd, as well it seems the band had not yet totally focused on their writing just yet, but its still a fairly enjoyable demo. The remaining tracks are unreleased songs from the 90's, but none of them are overly interesting to hear. There's also a multimedia section which contains the bands music videos as well as some live bootleg material and while its not the most visual striking thing out there it is at least cool to see the band doing what they once did best.
After a long absence Marc got the band back together last year with two original members as well as two new guys and although no new material has been recorded it seems the band at least has a number of gigs this summer. It should be interesting to see if the reunion is worth it or its just another joke like many other old bands that get back together just because of a resurgence of interest in a bands old style of playing. Time shall tell.
Lastly I can honestly say if you ever come across any of Morgoth's old recordings or even this comp then definitely pick it up, its immense death metal and especially if you're a fan of the old legends like Death, Obituary and Pestilence then you'll love this stuff too.
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