{"id":18125,"date":"2014-02-21T00:00:38","date_gmt":"2014-02-21T00:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=18125"},"modified":"2014-03-20T21:02:22","modified_gmt":"2014-03-20T21:02:22","slug":"album-review-morfin-inoculation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-morfin-inoculation\/","title":{"rendered":"MORFIN – Inoculation (2014) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

MORFIN
Inoculation<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nFDA Rekotz (2014)<\/span>
Rating: 7.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Isn\u2019t it great to know that old school death metal is still alive and well, and influencing all manner of extreme bands?<\/p>\n

Morfin is the latest bunch of lunatics to emerge from the impressive FDA Rekotz roster. Inoculation<\/em> is their debut slab, featuring ten grisly cuts that should please any fans of early Death and the likes. It\u2019s no real surprise then when I see that the album finishes off with a cover of \u2018Leprosy\u2019, which featured on Death\u2019s 1988 album of the same name. So, Morfin are not the world\u2019s most original band, but they sure as hell can vomit out brutal death metal with authority. <\/p>\n

Hailing from California, this quartet formed in 2010. Inoculation<\/em> is a classy record that holds no shame in worshipping Chuck Schuldiner\u2019s compositions; nowhere more so than with Jesus Romero, who has that dry rasping cough-like bark which Chuck was known for. Romero also plays the guitar, alongside Pedro Gonzalez. The riffs and solos are impressive throughout as the rest of the band carves out a sound that comprises mainly of mid-tempo, stuffy dynamics, which give this opus a dense, old school feel. Morfin also features the deathly drum talents of Miguel Hernandez, while the bass duties are handled by Romero\u2019s brother Michael.<\/p>\n

Inoculation<\/em> does sound as if it was recorded between the years 1989-1991, such is its dryness and eerie atmosphere. It\u2019s an album that is catchy throughout, beginning with the mid-paced sinister tones of \u2018Evil Within\u2019, which is a thick wall of sound that creaks with its nostalgic fa\u00e7ade of heavy drums and darkly-laced guitars, reminding me of a cross between Death and the mighty Possessed. <\/p>\n

Morfin combine fizzing, pacey riffs with deathlier slower segments, with just about every band that made old school death metal so great coming to the fore in those sneers, snares and sickening solos. Whether it\u2019s Massacre, Morbid Angel or Gorguts, Morfin nod to them all in their thirst for ghoulish notoriety.<\/p>\n

Yep, there are times when you\u2019ll feel you\u2019ve heard the arrangements before, but Inoculation<\/em> is one of those records that doesn\u2019t pretend to be anything other than solid death metal. The likes of \u2018Identity Killer\u2019, \u2018Cryostasis\u2019 and \u2018Viral Mutation\u2019 all sound like songs which may not have been good enough to appear on the classic works of Obituary, Death etc, but they are still strong contenders when it comes to nominations for the best revival death metal band on the circuit. <\/p>\n

With the sturdy bass-lines, pummelling drums and ghastly vocal gurgles \u2013 which at times exist as a less formidable relative of John Tardy (Obituary) \u2013 Morfin\u2019s sound reminds us not only of the glory years of death metal, but proves that if executed in the right manner, this sort of pungent death metal can still work today.<\/p>\n

One may argue that Morfin\u2019s debut offering lacks any type of progression, but again, I need to state that these guys are more than happy to mimic some of the original bands of the genre and occasionally inject their own malodorous melody. With \u2018Dark Creator\u2019 and \u2018Brain Control\u2019 one can hear just how precise and concise these guys are, rarely veering off their path into unknown waters, but merely sticking to their guns to produce those clammy riffs.<\/p>\n

Morfin are creating nothing new, but merely robbing graves for their own clammy hands. Because this platter is so close to the real thing, however, it works extremely well without ever becoming annoying. While this offering pales in comparison to the debut masterpieces of Death, Obituary etc., I can only applaud this type of hero worship because this is still a solid, fleshy composition, and one which may turn a lot of people onto to those older bands if they\u2019ve never previously heard them. Nothing beats a chunk of no frills death metal, and this is exactly what Morfin have created, and good luck to them.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MORFINInoculation FDA Rekotz (2014)Rating: 7.5\/10 Isn\u2019t it great to know that old school death metal is still alive and well, and influencing all manner of extreme bands? Morfin is the latest bunch of lunatics to emerge from the impressive FDA Rekotz roster. Inoculation is their debut slab, featuring ten grisly cuts that should please any […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,1143],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-morfin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18125"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18128,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18125\/revisions\/18128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}