Austin, Texas-based traditional death metallers Morgengrau perplexed me a little bit at first. Old-school death metal, moreso than most other genres, is defined by its many different regional sounds; the thrashier sound of the Florida scene, the pummeling brutality of New York, the Swedish scene’s love affair with hardcore, etc. And Morgengrau most definitely sound old-school, but it’s more of a standard, almost generic old-school sound that borrows a variety of influences from a few different scenes while not fitting cleanly into any of them.
And that’s okay. Those who throw on the band’s full-length debut Extrinsic Pathway hoping specifically for Florideath, Finndeath, or Swedeath worship might be disappointed, but everything heard on the album should still sound familiar to the old-school death metal fan, and those who just want riffs should have no problem enjoying it. Also, if you’re the type who enjoys finding female-fronted extreme metal, you’ll be happy to know that vocalist Erika Swinnich Tandy does a damn good job.
The three biggest points of reference I can think of for Morgengrau’s sound are Sepultura, Demigod, and Pestilence. Extrinsic Pathway is mostly groovy, with some thrashy parts and some doomy bits as well. There are hints of Swedeath in some of the more melodic bits, but the album never really gets that melodic; it’s more of a ‘Stronger Than Hate’ by Sepultura kind of melodic than an ‘Override of the Overture’ melodic (Extrinsic Pathway even features a cover of Sepultura’s ‘Inner Self’). Originality is lacking, but you won’t find much of that with old-school revivalist death metal anyway, and the riffs are solid enough that it’s possible to overlook. Vocally, Erika Tandy reminds me heavily of Deathevokation’s Götz Vogelsang, and the resemblance was so strong at first that I was hoping they shared members (The Chalice of Ages is one of my favorite death metal albums of the past decade, and I was very, very disappointed when they split up). And, as stated earlier, her performance is superb.
My one real complaint is the pacing. The songs all seem to hover around the same mid-paced tempo, which causes the album to feel monotonous at times and exacerbates the originality issues. There aren’t many really slow, massive moments, and no real speedy neckbreaking moments either, and the band could have used a few of each to expand the sonic palette some and break up the monotony. Fortunately, the standout tracks on the album – the title track, ‘Choking Grove,’ and ‘Polymorphic Communion,’ with ‘Grave of Lies’ being pretty cool as well – are all spread out pretty evenly.
Extrinsic Pathway won’t be the best death metal album you hear this year, nor the most original. But death metal fans should find some nice riffs and an overall enjoyable experience from a solid debut album.
