Morbid
December Moon

Sometimes seemingly insignificant events can set off a chain of events that will influence subsequent happenings in totally unexpected, and sometimes even devastating ways. Let's take an example concerning the world of extreme music: as a child, the young Swede Per Yngve Ohlin has an ice skating accident that causes him to rupture his spleen, followed by internal bleeding, and upon his arrival at the hospital, he is declared clinically dead. But Pelle will survive, and upon waking, he will no longer be the same person; in fact, the near-death experience he had during the coma will change his life, and also the history of extreme metal.

As a fan of the most uncompromising bands of the era, the usual Mercyful Fate, Bathory, and Celtic Frost, Pelle decides to form a band to follow the path of his idols and opts for the name Morbid, influenced directly by the Swiss band's EP "Morbid Tales." He also thinks of adopting a pseudonym for his musical venture, and the choice falls on Dead, a nickname that already in itself leaves no doubts about the nature of the young boy. Among his musical companions, Napoleon Pukes and Drutten must absolutely be mentioned, whose real names are Ulf Cederlund and Lars-Göran Petrov, respectively on guitar and drums.

And so it is that in 1987 Morbid come to record the demo "December Moon." Only four songs, but they already shape what will be Scandinavian metal of the following decade. An extreme form of thrash in which the impact of death already peeks through, remember that it is only 1987 and "Scream Bloody Gore" had just been released, but also the coldness of black, thanks especially to the voice of the cursed poet Dead. Although the production is not great, the tracks are very good and show flashes of remarkable class here and there, such as the atmospheric beginning of "Wings of Funeral," but it is in the final "Disgusting Semla" that the peak of madness is reached with a hysterical chorus of lalalalalalalalalalalala, a bit like those of Nanowar, which, however, has nothing ironic or mocking about it; rather, it is one of the sickest and most disturbing things I've ever heard, one of the many proofs of Dead's madness.

The history of extreme metal inevitably passes through this demo; in fact, after the brief experience in Morbid, Ulf Cederlund and L-G Petrov will join Nihilist, which will later become Entombed, while Dead will emigrate to Norway to join Mayhem, and his story will take an infinitely sadder turn. Want to know where Swedish death metal and Norwegian black metal were born? Here is your answer.