AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): MORGUE TERROR — “MORGUE TERROR”

Today we welcome to our site (and to the rest of the world) a horror-themed death metal band from Buffalo, New York named Morgue Terror. It’s the work of two death metal fanatics — Dave (guitars) and Steve (bass and vocals) — who found their thematic inspiration in the Terrifier franchise of slasher films and their main antagonist, Art the Clown.

The movies left such a deep and gory mark that the band’s name is derived from a pivotal scene at the end of the first movie when Art the Clown emerges from a body bag, delivering a fatal blow to the coroner.

And beyond that, the five songs on Morgue Terror‘s self-titled debut EP, which we’re premiering in full today in advance of its January 5 release, delve into the murders and characters portrayed in both Terrifier movies.

As for the music itself, it’s an amalgam of varying death metal tropes, with each song deploying them in slightly different ways to create a dynamic — and demented — listening experience.

Photo Credit: Victoria Sacha

While the songs are not cookie-cutter copies of the same thing, there are still noticeable through-lines: The band have a penchant for cooking up vicious but catchy riffs of different kinds; they deploy a hard punch in the bass-lines; the snare pop feels like it’s found its way inside your skull; and the raw braying and roaring vocals sound like a starving bear that’s been abused to the point of ravenous derangement.

Beyond that, the band operate most of the time in the fast lane, gearing their music to kick up a listener’s adrenaline, but finding places to bring in jolting and bludgeoning grooves and grisly melodies. And as mentioned above, these songs, sooner or later, all sound demented.

“Salt the Wound” kicks things off in a frenzy of skittering and wailing fretwork and neck-popping beats and then gleefully starts to jab and scamper as the riffing changes, and then to convulse in a paroxysm of madness, given added heat by a fret-melter of a solo by guest Brian Mason (from Contrarian, Sulaco, and CHRMR), and then a second and more eerie solo (following a bomb-like detonation).

From there, “Nightstalker” detours into more sinister and dissonant territory, with some of the notes feeling like needles under the fingernails. But Morgue Terror again bring jolting grooves into play, along with bits of queasy (and needling) riffage and screechy gurgling, and further soloing (again courtesy of Brian Mason) that sounds thoroughly insane.

On the other hand, “Broken, Beaten, Beheaded” is probably the most bludgeoning and jackhammering track on the EP, augmented by whining and insectile-like riffage, while “Morbid Curiosities” kicks the pace into racing and thrashing gear, but still sounding hideously cruel, and finishes with a ringing riff that somehow sounds glorious.

To close, Morgue Terror give us “Chopped up Chum“. Dismal at first, the song surges into the fast lane for one last spasm of mutilating violence, again interspersed with bursts of jabbing groove and a freaked-out solo at the crescendo.

And so, for their debut Morgue Terror have matched the grisly tales of their inspiration with music that’s berserk and bludgeoning, sinister and sickening, often technically impressive but also geared toward mayhem. Give it a listen below:

Morgue Terror‘s debut EP was recorded, produced, mixed, and mastered by Doug White at Watchmen Studios in Lockport, New York. The cover artwork is by Danielle Bevacqua of Dare To Dream Graphics.

The EP is available for pre-order and pre-save now:

PRE-ORDER/PRE-SAVE:
https://morgueterror716.bandcamp.com/album/morgue-terror
https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/morgueterror/morgue-terror

FOR MORE INFO:
https://www.facebook.com/morgueterror716
https://www.instagram.com/morgueterror716
https://www.youtube.com/@MorgueTerror