Review by Sandre the Giant
Another day, another grand release from Transcending Obscurity, who continue to reward us all for the lives we’ve led with new and massive records. The newest is ‘Supernaturals’, by Finnish sludge/doom/death lords Morbid Evils, a follow up to 2017’s well regarded ‘Deceases’. It is out next week and looks to be a standard bearer in the label’s schedule this year.
‘Fearless’ comes trudging from the murk with massive, lurching death/doom riffs sloughed in swampy, sludgy grimness. The sound is vast; an omnipresent ambient hum lurks in the background as the vocals howl nihilistic brutality into the aether. All of a sudden this pace is shattered by a chunky, rabid death metal riff that kicks us into a Swedish death metal gear. I was not ready for that transition, but it is a glorious moment where elemental forces combine into a potent assault. The return to nihilistic death/doom leads perfectly into ‘Anxious’, a gleaming miserable ode to Jesu with its droning riffs slowly evolving into a devastating downward plunge into the darkest abyssal depths. Morbid Evils have really nailed this collaboration of genres with coherent and dynamic songwriting.
The groaning crush of ‘Tormented’ is impaled by glorious soloing at one point, a cavalcade of light spiralling through insufferable darkness. Transcending Obscurity have put out a lot of dark, slow, heavy shit over the years but ‘Supernaturals’ is up there with the best of them. Sepulcros, Eremit, Jupiterian; Morbid Evils can easily fit in this illustrious company. As the cosmic malevolence of ‘Supernatural’ closes us out with twelve minutes of truly galaxy-scale brutality, whether at glacial pace or rampaging speed, Morbid Evils have re-emerged into the scene much like the artwork that adorns this record; a spirit of darkness hanging above what tiny and inconsequential mankind is left after the destructive sweep of ‘Supernaturals’. This is magnificent.
https://www.facebook.com/MorbidEvils
https://morbidevils.bandcamp.com/
The Killchain 