Normally when you think of black metal Atlanta,
Georgia isn’t where you expect to find it. At least not in a listenable
form. Morionor hails
from right there, and they are more than the average black metal band too.
Their music is taken from a compendium of sources typically black, power,
and death metal. This combination along with their writing style has created
a hybrid that I enjoy from the extreme, non-stop, shredding leads and demanding,
pounding and powerful blast beats to the melodic riffs and mystical keys.
They know how to play mellow and intense, as well as how to coalesce them.
If you’re a person that tends to label music, then how’s this
for you…multilayered technical, progressive and melodic black/death
metal. For me it reminds me some of the band Scholomance. Their influences
include Iron Maiden, Emperor, Children of Bodom, Dimmu Borgir, DarkThrone,
Arch Enemy, In Flames, Carcass, Sonata Arctica, and DragonForce. And you
do hear each of those bands as you voyage through this recording. It’s
hard to believe this is only their second album. One item I must point out
is how it seems that this album gets better the further you get into it.
A great way to keep your listeners focused! I guess a few people would find
this to be a challenge to listen due to the complexity. Maybe too much going
on for people, but I think they have something good going. Plus their songs
have length to them; 6 tracks almost 35 minutes! The last track on this
CD is their cover of “Disciples of Babylon”, which was written
by DragonForce. The arrangement is good, and the acoustic and key parts
are eloquent. I just wish they just did the whole song with their black
metal vocals. The singing parts aren’t the best, and they didn’t
use them on their own songs, so why switch for a cover? Anyhow, I’m
very interested in what these gentlemen have in story for the future. Morionor
has the ability, lets see what they can do with it!
Rating: 83
Reviewed By: Jeffrey D. Adkins |
