Retromorphosis – Psalmus Mortis
Retromorphosis – Psalmus Mortis
Seasons Of Mist Records
21/02/2025
Review by Oli Gonzalez
8.5/10
“I prefer my Death Metal to sound ugly and mean”.
Is there a better way to provide insight into your band’s sound? This is the succinct and straight-on-the-nose description provided by Jonas Bryssling, guitarist of Retromorphosis, a band title that equally could not be more adequate to describe this band. See, this could be considered a supergroup, one formed with the core of ex-Extreme Metal legends Spawn Of Possession, alongside previous members of Nechrophagist and Obscura. Retro derives from ‘past’, and ‘morphosis’ derives from ‘change’, hence drawing from key figures and odes from past glory days to collaborate and unleash new creative forces in the present, with the intention of causing disruption in the future.
Though this isn’t a linguistics or history lesson. No, this is about looking towards the debut release for Retromorphosis, “Psalmus Mortis”. Seasons Of Mist seems to be the right label for this Extreme Metal release and gets an instantaneous thumbs up for this reason alone. Without further ado, let’s begin and sample this latest addition to the world of Technical Death Metal.
Within the 1 minute 50 second offering that is ‘Obscure Exordium’, you know that Retromorphosis mean business and are taking no prisoners! A brief yet intense display of melodic yet technically proficient guitar work underpinned by thunderous drums, I get the feeling this will be used as an opening track to any live setting in the future. A smart move it would be too, if so. This mind-boggling technicality on the guitars continues throughout the album. And it’s clear it will be a mainstay in the sound of Retromorphosis in the future, as you’d probably expect, given the involvement of Christian Muenzner and Jonnas Billing and Jonas Bryssling. Though it’s anything but all Proggy-woggy and soulless complex licks on the fretboard void of human sentiment. Sometimes they’re happy to just allow a few single notes to ring out, crafted with the most scorching and radiant tones, as evidenced on ‘Aunt Christies Will’. This works!
Dennis is consistently fierce and heavy in his growling vocal assault yet still retains an admirable clarity in his voice. This permits a connection to the lyrics not usually offered in the genre. I do wonder if there could be more variety in the overall vocal approach though, perhaps with backing vocalists.
Compositionally speaking, this is a long way from cookie-cutter! Forget conventional and generic verse-chorus song structures. There’s a strong Progressive element perhaps best summed up by the 9 minute effort that is ‘Machine’. Though you have the usual Death Metal savagery you’d expect, calmer slower and more ambient passages allow the song to breathe and mature at the correct pace. The subtle use of synths and other backing tracks add a much welcome atmospheric quality, and additional melodic focal point. This also nods to the production values, which are honestly flawless; nothing else to add on that!
So, this was Retromorphosis, and “Psalmus Mortis”. Not quite ‘ugly and mean’. Gloriously furious seems more adequate to describe this effort!
TRACKLISTING:
01. Obscure Exordium
02. Vanished
03. Aunt Christie’s Will
04. Never to Awake
05. The Tree
06. Retromorphosis
07. Machine
08. Exalted Splendour
LINKS:
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