Morbus Chron were originally supposed to be named after a bowel disorder. The story goes that guitarist Edvin Aftonfalk was eating dinner with his family, and his mother was complaining about “Morbus Crohn”, the German term for Crohn’s disease. They settled on it as a band name, but misspelled it.
I like the new name better. “Morbus” is derived from the Latin “morbidus”, meaning diseased or unhealthy, while “chron”, being derived from the Greek personification of time Chronos, is used as a shortened form of “chronozone”, defined as a period of time which begins with an identifiable event and later ends with one, such as the reversing of the Earth’s polarity, or the meteor strike that killed the dinosaurs. So “morbus chron” would seemingly translate to “era of disease” or something similar.
Based on how the band has evolved since their 2011 debut album Sleepers in the Rift, I’d guess the disease defining that era is one of the mind. Morbus Chron’s tendency towards oddball riffing was only hinted at on the debut, but 2012’s EP A Saunter Through the Shroud had some truly strange moments. On Sweven, the band has gone completely insane, injecting a (presumably unhealthy) dose of proggy psychedelia to their bizarre brand of death metal, with the old-school Swedeath of the band’s past only barely being present. The riffs have become weirder, the song structures have become more complex, and the entire thing is disturbingly unsettling.
The immediate reaction I had upon listening to lead single ‘It Stretches in the Hollow’ was that Morbus Chron were moving in a similar direction as their countrymen in Tribulation, who also added psychedelic and progressive elements to their music with last year’s The Formulas of Death (my 2013 record of the year). In listening to the entire album, though, the comparison is only useful superficially, and the only real thing in common between Sweven and The Formulas of Death is the mixture of death metal with reverb-laden psychedelic atmosphere. The execution is completely different between the two albums, and if the two bands are conquering similar ground, then Morbus Chron’s newly-claimed territory is in a twisted parallel universe.
And it is execution which sets Sweven apart from almost anything I’ve ever heard in this genre. While dissonant riffing isn’t new to death metal, I’ve never heard a band take it in quite this direction before. Hell, even the more melodic sections sound incredibly unsettling because of the chaotic twisting and turning on this album. Sweven isn’t so alien to be beyond comprehension, but the album is a jarring, uncomfortable listen the entire way through, and in the best way possible.
Those used to unnatural, alien death metal will certainly hear bits of Demilich, Supuration, and Ulcerate, while those who like psychedelia in their extreme metal will pick up bits of Oranssi Pazuzu and Njiqahdda, and those who look for stuff with a prog kick to it will draw comparisons to Opeth. Elements of all of the above can be found on Sweven, but even taking the combined sum of those bands doesn’t put in you quite the right area. This is an album that needs to be heard to be understood, and hear it you must.
