Album Review: Morbific – Squirm Beyond the Mortal Realm
Reviewed by Sam Jones
Morbific are a band that I have known of for a little time now. In the grand scheme of things, Morbific are still quite the young band, having only formed in 2020, where they’ve really made rather the opening statement in just a few years. Their first Demo and Single was a good indication of what Morbific could bring to the table, but it was 2021’s Ominous Seep Of Putridity, an album that I’ve admittedly yet to get round to, that really sealed the deal for Morbific in the eyes of many. There’s been a genuine explosion of the new wave of old school bands and Morbific are no different, albeit offering perhaps something that’s a little more familiar with what we may come to expect from Finnish extreme metal. Releasing a Split with Japanese at Anatomia last year prior to this record only goes to show the band’s ability to work alongside like-minded extreme metal. Now, towards the recesses of 2022, Morbific are gearing up to unleash their second full length release: Squirm Beyond The Mortal Realm. This may be their second record but its my first time experiencing these guys, so I was particularly excited for what these Finns could deliver.
It surprised me as to what kind of guitar tone Morbific would choose for their sophomore album release; I thoroughly anticipated something typically downtuned and ultra heavy. The general soundscape is heavy, it is crushing but, it’s a guitar sound that also offers a warped and raw aesthetic to a record that would otherwise have been lent a cavernous vibe by other acts. In this respect, Morbific give us a performance that feels extremely true to how they played within the recording studio at the time; there doesn’t feel to be much alteration nor tweaking of the guitar work as the band have moved from recording to mixing. We’re able to pick up on all the small niceties that come with such a raw and real guitar sound; it’s as close a guitar tone on record as you’ll receive seeing Morbific live.
But very much like their debut full length, the vocals are crushingly heavy. The guitar work may be more upfront with its presence than anything else on record, yet the sheer depths the vocals are playing with enable them to protrude through the record’s crushing miasma and still reach our ears. You’re not going to make out specifically what is being uttered here, it’s not that kind of death metal performance; it’s the kind that utilises the vocals more as an atmospheric ploy than any actual coherent, legible performance. Due to the guitar tone harnessing a warped style, the vocals are merely one element the band employ to give the record unique and crushing presence to ground their sound in reality. The riffs and soloing may lean towards more bizarre sensibilities however the vocals keep us rooted in conventional soundscapes that allow us to know we’re not moving too far away from what we perceived this album to be in the first place.
This carries on with the bass too. It’s how the bass has been mixed into the record itself than what the other instrumental elements can impart. With that said, it’s great that I could acknowledge the bass guitar as a legitimate force in this album; while the guitar work, as severe as it is, is working on us, the bass is always present and seems to have been given a higher plane to work with. It never feels like the bass guitar is having to conflict with the vocals nor the main riffs, the bass is always climbing above the myriad of elements coming our way with surprising ease. You won’t be there trying to locate the bass, rather it’s the bass that manages to find you and with no difficulty in doing so either. The bass drums, during the record’s quieter pieces, also amplify this pounding yet serene accessibility for a well-rounded album sound; the bass is well defined and manages to punch through the thick wall of sound Morbific throw up for us with ease. It’s an unusual dichotomy of album mixing where a soundscape is simultaneously dense and lined with mesh, enabling elements to flow through one another.
It wasn’t until I was around halfway through the record, I realised Morbific didn’t use blast beats throughout their songwriting, only utilising some blast beats towards the back end of the record. With that said, it’s worth noting Morbific also play at speeds that enable their audience to keep up with what they’re dishing out. There was never any point where I felt like I missed a part or felt certain segments weren’t as fleshed out as I would have preferred them to be. Morbific play old school death metal albeit with this perturbed vibe that really exemplifies the evil and malice extreme metal vied for in its early days. Knowing that I could sit back, relax and simply allow Morbific to unleash everything they had at me, knowing I’d experience everything they had to offer, was a wondrous feeling. This album was never looking to race alongside me and during their longer tracks, they really let the songwriting do the work, for their pacing slows down the rate at which we are experiencing the songwriting which, in turn, allows us to savour each turn and piercing jab the riffs unleash. In addition, a longer track is followed by a much shorter piece; sometimes it’s a fully fledged track but, then again, it can be an instrumental or atmospheric piece. It binds together to create an album that genuinely cares about the audience experience, doing its utmost to guarantee as many repeated, returning listens as they may muster.
In conclusion, as my first exposure to Morbific, I have only come away all the more curious. Was their first record mixed and delivered in the same style? If so, then it’d a unique choice specific to Morbific, which can only be beneficial, allowing the band to assume a particular identity and greater memorability in the minds of their fans. When legions of extreme metal acts are looking to downtune their sonic assaults, it takes courage for a band like Morbific to go in an opposite direction and to then allow the bass and other elements to pick up the slack. It’s a soundscape that, I think, will sidewind a lot of people owing to what they naturally expected against what Morbific deliver. With that said however, I thoroughly enjoyed Morbific’s Squirm Beyond The Mortal Realm and would absolutely recommend this to any fan of modern, dirty death metal. The Finnish aspect only furthers my interest in this band, giving their sound the ethereal and mutilated aesthetic bands that part of the world are renowned for. I’m firmly excited for album three.
