THE MORIBUND PEOPLE

"All tracks draw on the eerie and bizarre sonic landscapes of Lost in Reverie" - says the official site. Don't believe it. The Moribund People differs from Lost in Reverie as much as Lost in Reverie differed from PECCATUM's previous attempts. Once again the Norwegian duo offers you sadness and despair to experience - but with many new elements.

The title track is a killer. Composed in a more traditional vein (I'd even call it progressive gothic rock), it has lots of symphonic keyboards, amazingly catchy and emotional chorus, clever lyrics and some of Ihsahn's stunning screams (for the first time since The Sham Mirrors by ARCTURUS, by the way). In my opinion, given good promotion this song could become band's first real hit. A Penny's Worth of Heart is pure Peccatum - experimental from beginning to end and sounds like nothing you've heard before. It mostly flows as an industrial song but changes to metal with screaming for a few times. Not as polished as the title track, but still very impressive. For All Those Who Died is probably not too well known among the visitors of ProgArchives - it is considered as one of the masterpieces of black metal (originally performed by BATHORY). This version is so much better than the original that it could even be offensive to the memory of Quorthon, the original composer (he passed away last summer and this cover version is dedicated to him). The video for the title track is very good, but masked marching people always brings back memories of Another Brick In The Wall. :)

The Moribund People is a definite step forward - in musical, lyrical and productional ways. For stars, because fifteen minutes in not enough.