Morgoth
Odium

"And we're never gonna find the answer in a normal way
Staring at the walls of life, soon they will decay
Is our life just decadence or selfish style
Are we just numbers in a forgotten file"

From the opener "RESISTANCE"

Time neither heals nor does justice (as the good Gene Hoglan writes for his Dark Angel's "Time does not heal"), so buried by time and dust, no one remembers much about a historical German act responsible for 4 releases, both EPs and LPs, at the turn of the late '80s/early '90s, Morgoth.

Active since '86, it was only with the entrance into the formation of the iconic blonde and hefty screamer Marc Grewe that the band took their destiny into their own hands and released the demo, later reissued, "Pits Of Utumno", which drew the interest of none other than Century Media, who signed them and maintained this partnership until the group's split.

Musically, Morgoth initially proposed a typically Teutonic thrash that intersected notable structures clearly in the death metal mold, derived from Death/Possessed, with a considerable taste for splatter and gore imagery and a lot of native ferocity, also given by vocals reminiscent of the good old John Tardy from Obituary.

But with the passage of time and the release of their works (truthfully only two substantial EPs, that is, "The Eternal Fall" and "Resurrection Absurd"), they first veered towards a more orthodox and horrific death sound with the first true full-length, "Cursed" ("Opportunity is gone" and "Body count" are very clear and excellent examples) released in 1991, and then they literally surprised all the already numerous fans with an album like "Odium", which I am about to review.

The visions of an apocalyptic and dire future, the mechanization of the soul, and the industrialization of sounds present in Kreator's seminal "Renewal", pour into the primordial rage of Morgoth, who, assimilating the lesson taught by Petrozza&Co, make it personal and, if possible, even darker. The return to more thrash-oriented compositions fits well with the use of metallic material samples and breaks reminiscent of post-industrial groups like Prog, but the power and expressiveness are never lacking. "Odium" (and the title says it all) oozes hatred, frustration, disillusionment, violence expressed with skill, technique, and remarkable sound and execution clarity. There are no fillers; every song has its reason, every composition exudes its desire to be, its feeling, the vocals, even more lacerating than usual (and here we can even bring up some hardcore roots), become less guttural and forcibly death and spit out truly heartfelt lyrics that leave behind any fantasy/gore inclinations to speak of current affairs and personal expedients.

At the time, the term "Industrial Death" was coined to categorize the genre proposed by them, but as we know, not everything must necessarily find a classification or a massification, especially since it's not easy at all to give a definite label to songs like the opener "Resistance", a real punch in the teeth, or the psychotic and changing "Submission", or the discordant "Drowning Sun", or the hypnotic and concluding title track.

Ultimately, I can safely affirm that, aside from being one of the top albums in its category in '93, this "Odium", beyond being the highest artistic expression proposed by the German combo, deserves to be unshelved from the dusty racks where it has lain for almost fifteen years now. Give it a chance, it will surprise you.