Masochrist

You wouldn't think from listening to this album that Moriorr were an early death metal band, but it's true. They contributed to the Death Metal Sessions II VHS in 1988 (an important recording in Czech extreme metal history) along with Krabathor, Root and several others, and continued to release demos up until 1992 when they became inactive, but they reformed again in 2003. 'Masochrist' was released in 2007, and it demonstrates that Moriorr certainly never stopped following metal during the time they were inactive. Infact, there are barely any old-school elements at all on this album, this sounds completely inspired by metal from the 90s and 00s. You would not think from listening this album that the band had black/death metal demos in the late 80s as the band seem to have carried absolutely no influence from that era whatsoever.

The material can best be compared to Dimmu Borgir, although the melody comes mostly from the guitars, there are synths but they're not nearly as important as they are in Dimmu Borgir's more recent compositions. Some of the riffs sound rooted in heavy/power metal and some sound like your standard melodeath affair, and then there are all the groove moments aswell. There are keyboards, and they add to the overall atmosphere, but they're not as overbearing as, say, Progenies of the Great Apocalypse. However, the music here feels Dimmu Borgir-esque, and reminds me most of Spiritual Black Dimensions and Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia, where they had a good mix of groove, melodic death metal, gothic tendencies and borderline black metal influence. It's enjoyable music, perhaps slightly above those albums in song quality, I think the compositions here flow much more nicely than mid-era Dimmu Borgir and there isn't really any filler either.

One other thing that puts Moriorr above their contemporaries playing this sort of music, though, would be the accent. Seriously, the Czech accent works highly in the band's favour as Jirka semi-growls the lyrics in a declarative tone, it really makes the music sound much more EVIL than it should do. I listen to a lot of metal from the Czech Republic, and this is the only band I've ever heard where the accent really heightens the atmosphere. It helps during the weaker spots, and makes the good songs overall more enjoyable aswell. Not that they'd necessarily need it, songs like Posledni Dejestvi would be strong enough to carry themselves, with their excellent subtle use of keys and beautiful soloing.

Moriorr don't really reinvent the wheel, but they do what they do more than competently and people that like their extreme metal with a dose of conventional melody should really enjoy what the band has the offer on 'Masochrist'.