The debut album from blackened thrash band Morbikon is savagely unsettling: Ov Mournful Twilight.

Morbikon is a solo project of Municipal Waste bass player Phil “Land Phil” Hall. While Municipal Waste is a tongue-in-cheek thrash band, this solo project is darker in tone. “Morbikon to me is an opportunity to explore new atmospheres and new realms of extreme metal,” Hall says. “I wanted to fill it with memorable hooks and punishing moments. I am very happy with the result of these songs and hope everyone notices the amount of detail that has been added to every corner of the music. I also have to give Dave Witte a lot of credit for laying down amazing drum tracks that added so much to these songs.”

There are eight meaty tracks on Ov Mournful Twilight. The aptly titled “Consumed By Entropy” starts with noisy clangs and threatening growls. The song moves through patches of heavy catchy grooves next door to sour calamities of musical collision. A platter of digestible hooks is a great way to deliver the more challenging constructions and so the song works well. “Universal Funeral” puts the smooth at the front and the off-balancing warbles are a patch down the road, mixing things up. There is a significant doomish segment that fits the theme and a fine lead break that marks this song for high praise.

“Cursed To March On Shattered Limbs” has the feel of a dark lullaby that turns into blatantly savage shrieking black metal. Lovely. Likewise, “Deaththirst” is brutal in the rhythm section and really shakes you up. In the middle section, the song becomes very dramatic and psychologically threatening. The second half of the record offers the title track and, of them all, this is my favorite song on the album. The musical build in the composition is pure dark theater.

Heading into the last act we hear “In Ritual Isolation,” a cavernous intimation, and “Contagion Borne Of Phantom Vessel,” a dreadful spell cast in the oppressive gloom that makes me reconsider my top spot song rankings. The anchor is “Infinite Pathways to the Earthen Grave.” I expected this song to be especially dreary, but it is not – in fact it begins with high energy and it runs at a penetrating pace. The guitar work is impeccable; the solemn outro is haunting. It is the perfect wrap to this dark delight of an album. Recommended.

Ov Mournful Twilight is out on Friday, October 28^th through Tankcrimes Records. You can pick it up through Bandcamp or at the label link below.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://downloads.tankcrimes.com/album/ov-mournful-twilight

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/people/Morbikon/100063566229471/

Tankcrimes Records, https://tankcrimes.merchtable.com/

© Wayne Edwards