{"id":190421,"date":"2025-06-17T01:28:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-17T01:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/190421\/"},"modified":"2025-06-17T01:28:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T01:28:10","slug":"morbyda-under-the-spell-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/190421\/","title":{"rendered":"Morbyda – Under the Spell Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"I always enjoy reviewing and exposing bands on their debut. A debut offers a cornucopia of possibilities: will it be innovative? Exciting? Shit? Picking up an album deep into a discography often results in something that\u2019s like what came before, but with a debut, there\u2019s an element of the unknown. Under the Spell by Germany\u2019s Morbyda<\/strong> is one such example, with just one demo and live release under their belt previously. Promising a NWoBHM-inflected release of blackened speed metal, there are few things more heartening than a young band making heavy metal. Do I remain heartened after spending hours with Morbyda<\/strong>?<\/p>\n

At its core, Under the Spell blends blackened shouts, wailing vibratos, crunchy guitars, and vibrant riffs into energetic speed metal. Despite the heaviness derived from the grimy instrumental tones and unrelenting pace, the melodies are so upbeat that they almost sound happy. And although the songs sometimes lack the brevity that might benefit them, I admire their directness. Focused songwriting prioritizes the fastest route from guitar lead to guitar lead, and there are few moments on the album that aren\u2019t trying to be big, loud, and boisterous. On \u201cTurning the Wheel of Steel\u201d \u2013 coincidentally, how Steel Druhm<\/strong> describes himself becoming aroused \u2013 the harmonized lead is a highlight and refrain to which the song regularly returns. Likewise, the key change to a higher octave at 3:10, underpinned by a slowing rhythm, partitions the song into two halves and accentuates the ensuing solo. Morbyda<\/strong> target maximalism.<\/p>\n

The production packages the Under the Spell sound into something fairly chaotic and lo-fi. This would be my ordinary preference, especially for black\/speed metal, but here it\u2019s so roughshod that there are unfortunate consequences. The muddy rhythm section is the prime suspect, filling the middle of the sound stage with drums and bass that are poorly defined. This not only obscures the instrumental skill of the respective performers; it also obscures the second guitarist and distinctiveness of the riffs. The riffs are generally good, but the poorly defined mix results in many sounding the same. This results in a release where, once you\u2019ve heard a couple of the tracks, you\u2019ve heard them all. Sonic consistency is a given on a cohesive record, but this creeps into a uniformity that undermines the divisions between songs. By contrast, moments where the soundstage clears to expose fewer instruments \u2013 like the transition around 1:50 on \u201cMother of Decay\u201d \u2013 my attention is grabbed once more.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Under the Spell is most enjoyable when its songs are restricted to a shorter duration; the three shortest are some of the best. \u201cEvil\u201d offers a speedy and robust introduction, \u201cThe Curse\u201d is uniquely boisterous on a boisterous album, and \u201cSacrifice\u201d benefits from a spidery lead that\u2019s both technical and atmospheric. Accordingly, the three tracks that approach or exceed six minutes suffer the most from the length. And beyond sheer time consumed, Morbyda<\/strong> struggle to arrange the longer tracks in a sophisticated manner. The transition from a slower instrumental passage to the frenzied solo at 3:55 on \u201cMother of Decay\u201d is jarring and representative of transitions that are just as roughshod as the production. Likewise, this same track closes with a guitar solo that simply stops. The album is the product of an enthusiastic group trying to stitch together enthusiastic songs, but their enthusiasm exceeds their compositional abilities.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve struggled to score Under the Spell. I have numerous gripes, from the muddy production to the monotonous song-writing to the clunky arrangements. And yet my over-arching response is still one that\u2019s reasonably positive. You might expect imperfections from a young band figuring out their sound, and Morbyda<\/strong> have a bouncy, entertaining quality. There are ultimately too many obstacles to reach a \u2018good\u2019 rating, but I\u2019ll be tracking the progress of these Germans with interest.<\/p>\n

\ufeff<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: 2.5\/5.0
DR<\/strong>: 9 | Format Reviewed<\/strong>: 320 kbps MP3
Label<\/strong>: Dying Victims Productions<\/a>
Website<\/strong>: morbyda.bandcamp.com<\/a>
Releases Worldwide<\/strong>: June 20th, 2025<\/p>\n

\n\tGive in to Your Anger:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I always enjoy reviewing and exposing bands on their debut. A debut offers a cornucopia of possibilities: will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":190422,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3936],"tags":[20843,743,78016,78017,77,20844,71939,78018,269,6080,6082,78019,16,78020,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-190421","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-2-5","9":"tag-743","10":"tag-blackened-speed-metal","11":"tag-dying-victims-productions","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-german-metal","14":"tag-jun25","15":"tag-morbyda","16":"tag-music","17":"tag-review","18":"tag-reviews","19":"tag-speed-metal","20":"tag-uk","21":"tag-under-the-spell","22":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114696113651346205","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190421\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/190422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}