Lepra – Mortuus Morgana

vote
7.5

• Band:
  Lepra
• Duration: 00:25:10
• Available from: 07/14/2025
• Label:

• Blackseed Productions

Streaming not yet available

Like a corpse that refuses to remain buried, “Mortuus Morgana” emerges from the Scandinavian fog with a family meter but changed, unrecognizable forms. The lepra, Swedish formation here at the debut, do not play to encryp the glories of the past of the past: the boys of Stockholm instead prefer to disarched the remains and recompose them in a crooked and restless hybrid, where a custiest punk legacy is welded to the twisted muscles of the classic scandinavian extreme metal. The result is a compact but very dense EP, which rests, surprises and intrigues from the first listening.
The four songs that make up the mini mini seem to reflect a clear background aesthetic, but deliberately elusive in its sound events. The raw approach to production and a certain dryness in the execution betray precisely a background of hardcore or punk matrix in its more abrasive forms, especially in the most direct and slab moments. However, Riffing often moves on much more complex coordinates, intertwining poisonous melodies that recall both the Vanhelgd and the most classic Watains, those capable of making mefistophalic fury a form of art.
“Mortuus Morgana” therefore does not limit itself to tracing the canons of the Scandinavian extreme: the entire work is crossed by an oblique, almost psychotic drive, which translates into sudden slowdowns or rhythmic screws, unexpected acoustic inserts, unpredictable harmonic solutions. It is here that a more introspective and adventurous vein emerges, which can remember from afar a record like Morbus Chron's “Sweven”, not so much for the sounds itself, as for that feeling of instability and research that permeates almost every step.
What is striking is precisely this will to mix the cards, to avoid the photocopy effect even if starting from a basis declaredly linked to tradition. Not surprisingly, the Lepra themselves define their proposal as “cadaver rock”: a deliberately ambiguous but evocative label, which suggests a more vitalistic and creative approach to the decomposed matter of the Death and Swedish black metal. The term sounds like a provocation, but conceals a profound awareness: this is not the usual Old School formation, but an entity that reflects on its own means and folds them to its intentions.
In this sense, “Mortuus Morgana” – originally released independently in December 2024 and now reprinted in CD and LP by Blackseed Productions – works very well as a declaration of intent: each track shows different facets, from the most muddy groove to the most neurotic eptempo, passing through moments of atmospheric opening that never expires in the postch. Everything seems to be carefully dosed and, despite its demo roughness, the work communicates an authentic, never forced urgency.
Ultimately, the lepra present themselves as a reality to keep an eye on. These first four songs demonstrate a surprising expressive lucidity and a desire to distinguish themselves that bodes hope for the future.