Morgengrau – Blood Oracle (Out of Ideas Metal)
Death metal. What else can one say about it? Nothing really, unless the genre learns to move along, and some bands have done that for sure. But far too many are stuck still doing the old thing. Rickety, crotchety, drooling. The old school style, with new production, is that what it takes? What solace can it provide for our “please stop the OSDM suffering?” Not much, trust me. The only way to get any attention playing classic death metal is to write well, and that’s generally not something you can just do. It’s either accidental or inborn. Morgengrau, from the one legendary Austin scene, are an example of one of these types of death metal. They’ve been around since 2010 but surprisingly only have two releases under their bullet belt, including this one, Blood Oracle. This is the accidental type of death metal, let’s just say it, but only at accidental times unfortunately, and you’ll accidentally forget it.
Blood Oracle has a great cover. In fact I wish I could start and end the review with that. Nick Keller, love him, and this is supreme. It makes you not even give a flying bullet belt geriatric fart what it is or what music you’re about to experience. There’re some blood wolves next to some blood sorceress looking from a cliff over a blood river with an army of skeletal insect things that looks like it was inspired by anime. I frankly don’t care what it is, but Blood Oracle‘s music is easy to explain. Sometimes I feel a void writing particular reviews, and this is a good example. So void am I of ideas I feel like I should be writing for that one site about angry metal nucritics who write too damn much and never seems to explain themselves sufficiently. Blood Oracle is like my feeling about that site and this review, I’m over it. It’s death metal and it makes only a few attempts to differ itself from the horde trying to make it big, like some OSDM on Reverbnation. Who still uses that site and why mention it? I don’t know, I just have nothing else to say, really, but let’s try. Blood Oracle has some moments, such as the truly awesome chanting and riff passage at the 2:50 mark in “Wolves Of Thirteen,” but this feels like an accident, a lucky mistake that made this release better than their last one. If you’re looking for death metal, you’ll get it here, but is it possible to distinguish from anything else? Unlikely, just like this review. It’s a death metal review, get it?
Written by Stanley Stepanic
Morgengrau – Blood Oracle
Unspeakable Axe Records
2.9 / 5
