The return of Morpholith is set for 2024.
After two excellent EPs, the Icelandic band featuring Snæbjörn Þór Árnason (vocals, Nyrst), Víðir Örn Gunnarsson (guitar, Black Desert Sun), Stefán Gestur Stefánsson (bass), Hörður Jónsson (guitar/keyboards) and Jónas Hauksson (drums, CXVIII, ex-Narthraal) unveil Dystopian Distributions of Mass Produced Narcotics, their debut album, in collaboration with Interstellar Smoke Records.
With Montainous, the first track, we feel literally crushed by the sound, and understand the impression of grandeur created by the cover art by Ryan T. Hancock (Terminalist, Æolian…). The listener quickly becomes dizzy as the driving Stoner influences take hold, while the Doom roots oppress us and allow a few howls, but also more soaring or noisy passages before fading out to make way for Psychosphere and its abrasive saturation. Transcendent leads add a luminous touch to this dark, haunting sound with its sometimes spacey tones, then we’re carried away by Narcofactory‘s comforting bass, which eventually returns to its rawer approach, creating an interesting duality to exploit on what is one of the album’s two shortest tracks. Hellscaper follows with an eerie slowness populated first by strident screams, then by massive vocal parts and even a hypnotic duet to lead us into the final harmonics. The track ends in a strange feedback and then lets Metabaron reinvigorate the riffs for a short while, still giving us some highly psychedelic moments, just like on Dismalium, which features rather ethereal clean vocals while the rhythm section continuously stuns us. Keyboards also play an important role in this track, fuelling the intoxicating atmosphere the band develops, before turning to Funeral Doom on Exoportal, a track that exceeds the quarter-hour mark but is still tinged with that heady, slightly dissonant and sometimes greasier touch, before finally surrendering to gentleness to close the album.
Morpholith has developed its influences to make them even heavier and more majestic, making Dystopian Distributions of Mass Produced Narcotics a real success. The band can be proud of their debut album.
90/100
