Morgal - Nightmare Lord LP (Black vinyl)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evKLqmh2PWc&feature=emb_title

Werewolf Records.

Massive gatefold sleeve with pantone-bronze printing and inlay.

It was but November 2018 when MORGAL fully burst onto the international scene with their self-titled EP for WEREWOLF. At the time, two of their members were not yet even into their 20s, which perhaps explains the exceptionally foul electricity coursing through the 15 shock & awe minutes of Morgal. And despite that young age, MORGAL brazenly exuded the ageless wisdom of true black METAL - so ageless, in fact, that you'd be forgiven for mistaking that EP as the work of very old men. Alas, Morgal was hailed far and wide by all who heard it, and the fever pitch for their true debut album has only grown in intensity.

Alas, the wait is over, and now arrives MORGAL's long-awaited first full-length, Nightmare Lord. (2016's Kaarmesielu was released in an edition of only 20 copies and, despite its length, is not considered by the band to be their debut album.) Refreshingly "new" and old simultaneously, Nightmare Lord literally explodes with an electrifying energy that's startling to behold while beholden equally to the ancient ways of '90s black metal, particularly the more melodic end of such. So, while names like Nifelheim, Dissection, Lord Belial, Sacramentum, and even Bewitched and Raise Hell are invoked, they serve as touchstones for MORGAL's blistering, bewitching attack rather than tired tropes to rape further. And where the power-trio previously sounded quite literally off the rails, that attack here has tightened up considerably whilst allowing those maniacal, hysterical energies to run riot; the production, in kind, is clear and cutting and undeniably analog. More than that, each of Nightmare Lord's seven central songs is more anthemic than the last, black-leather bat-wings enclosed around sulfurous heavy metal MAGICK. All told, a chain-breaking, sword-drawing, spell-invoking experience that's velvety blue-purple in spirit but unironically ringed in flames - not for nothing did the legendary Joe Petagno grace Nightmare Lord with exclusive cover artwork.

Whether this debut album is unequivocally "monumental" or not, we'll leave to the rabble. For those who believe, hail the Nightmare Lord and raise the banner true HEAVY METAL with MORGAL!