Morgul

Morgul’s fifth record, and first for Season of Mist, is a difficult one to place. Straightforward extreme metal, shifting between death and black, provides a foundation for Nordic folk melodies (à la Amorphis) and gothy synth arrangements and vocals, but All Dead Here… rarely settles into one groove long enough to identify with it. Self-financed and the evil brain child of Morgul founder J Maestro Discordia, All Dead Here… unfolds like the lead-up to a tumultuous thunder storm, with the piano intro of the title track offering a moment of respite between wind gusts and a haunting violin interlude near the end mimicking those brief moments of utter calm before the worst of the gale erupts. The album’s ugly in a sinister way, but no less bewitching for its ugliness.