Photo credit: Muur Studio
For us there are few bands which produce grooves and unpredictable twists as carnivorous as they are relentlessly addictive and inventive than MoRkObOt, and the creators of rhythmic and grooved entanglements have done it again with fifth album GoRgO, woven a web of psyche twisting trespasses through their twin bass and psychotic drum instrumental alchemy.
The Italian trio of bassists Lin and Lan, and drummer Lon have excavated their most primal yet dynamically and imaginatively inventive maelstrom of sound yet with GoRgO, almost as if their twelve years and previous quartet of releases have been building up to this momentous moment. Recorded by Giulio Ragno Favero (Zu, Teatro degli Orrori, OvO, One Dimensional Man) at Lignum Studio in Italy, the album manages to stir an intimate as well as broadly ravenous incitement across seven slices of aural psychosis. The press release for GoRgO describes the album as “low-end noise rock origami” and from its first crunching breath a folding and twisting of texture and convention is exactly what involves the listener.
Opener Kogromot instantly grabs body and imagination as the opening lure of beats play like a side show barker, inviting attention as the waiting dexterity and rapacity of the bass slung duo stands poised to join in the ensnaring of ears and dismantling of expectations. Quickly the virulence of the track consumes ears; swinging beats and hungry grooves creating a raw festival of cantankerous sound and revelry that preys on the senses as much as it ignites them.
The mouth-watering start continues through the darker excitable throes of Kologora, Lon’s jungle of twisted rhythms alone ear and appetite gripping. As ever there is a predatory side to the heavy and the creatively dissentient nature of the MoRkObOt sound, the shadow lingering tone of the first track a growling antagonist in the second and subsequently an invasive almost cancerous infestation in the third. Gorokta takes a less direct approach to stirring up the emotions than its predecessors, their more forceful intrusiveness replaced by a ‘mellower’ and expansive adventure weaving more textural and sonic hues in its head spinning proposal. At times Lon is a blur of sticks and beats whilst Lin and Lan sculpt a calmer but emotionally dangerous landscape of enterprise.
There is no other band like MoRkObOt, their technical craft and distinct imagination blending forms of simplicity with seriously involved imagination, every note as revealed again within the outstanding Ogrog, skilfully and instinctively inventive to send the listener spinning into fresh adventures each and every time shared. Another track which prowls, virtually stalks the senses with rhythmic dexterity to lust over, it makes way for the harmonic discord and heterodoxic Kromot. The track glorious invades and seduces body and spirit, nurturing a creative and renegade instinct within itself and its targets. For some reason steampunk like imagery comes to mind during the track, aural technology and aesthetic designs coming together like a puppeteer which in many ways is what MoRkObOt are; puppeteers of rhythms, riffs, and grooves, not forgetting the psyche.
The album completes the rousing and seducing of the passions with firstly the dark, sinister, and slightly vaudevillian exploits of Krogor and lastly the epic Gorog which takes and accentuates all those elements and more into an otherworldly and deeply cavernous soundscape. Forcibly mesmeric and bewitchingly off-kilter within its shadowy beauty, the track is stunning; a sublime and transfixing exploration growing from its noir almost jazzy emergence into one deceptively raptorial encounter.
There is no denying we have a real soft spot for MoRkObOt but fans or not there is no escaping that GoRgO is the finest entanglement with the band yet and one of the year’s most irresistible offerings.
GoRgO is out now via Supernatural Cat on CD, Vinyl, and digitally.
http://www.morkobot.org http://www.facebook.com/morkobot http://morkobot.bandcamp.com
Pete RingMaster 28/09/2016
Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright
Path Of Unknown opens with a melodic atmosphere similar to the opening intro, sunken vocals courting the initial lure before the song opens up into a striking and thrilling encounter. The mellower tones of Pickup predominantly stir the song this time around, luring with the listener alongside spicy melodies into one ridiculously infectious chorus and subsequently a great passage of calm reflection with a touch of Palms to it. One of the biggest highlights among many, the outstanding proposal is followed by the far more hostile climate and sound of Time To Die, though it too is unafraid to cast warm melodies and catchy clean vocals. A rival for best track to match its predecessor, the song completes a first half of Resting Where No Shadows Fall which simply blows most other emerging melodic/groove metallers away.
Bad Egg is next, coaxing ears with a singular hook wearing an early Adam and The Ants scent before things open up with wiry melodies and predacious beats as McAvinue’s guitar spins a web of tangy melodic intrigue. Less ferocious and imposing than its predecessors, the track is dangerously bewitching, leaving a lingering imprint before Teethin’ strolls in like a gunslinger, one hiding its bite behind catchy endeavours but perpetually gnawing away with post and old school punk invention. Its exceptional persuasion is followed by that of Little Man, a haunting ballad-esque canter seemingly as much inspired by the darker explorations of Siouxsie and The Banshees as bands like Hole and 4 Non Blondes, and quite irresistible.
The great start to the album continues with I Did Something Bad, the growl lined vocals of Greg Hal a magnetic essence as swinging riffs and rhythms unite while the guitars of Yan Pierrat and Hal spin a web of sonic and melodic adventure. Like its predecessor, there is an instinctive catchiness to the song which is irresistible even when the bass of Robin Rob’s grooves along on its own. The band lists inspirations as the likes of Black Stone Cherry, Steel Panthers, Red Fang, and Nashville Pussy, and it is those kinds of influences which especially leap around within the album’s second track.
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The following Blind Taste is of the same ilk but instantly revealing its own funky swagger and melodic character led by Logeais’ fine vocals and the ever persuasive enterprise of Sarthou’s keys. A touch more restrained than its predecessor yet with an energy and zeal to its magnetic stroll, Orsini’s guitar adds extra sonic endeavour to the weave of grooves and melodies courted by robust rhythms before the outstanding Vampire Lady teases and taunts with its seventies blues ‘n’ soul hued dance.
Through the turbulent and at times almost spatial landscape of Self Destructive Haze and the mazy multi-textured Thread Of Life attention is tightly gripped, the second of the two a real seduction of ears with its invasive storm cored by melodic beauty, and latterly, dark stringed seducing while the exceptional Concentric Waves, with the ever compelling bass exploits of Kornelius Kiriakidis especially magnetic, mesmerises as it aggressively and technically swings to and fro.
Good variety across Sucker is another potent attribute, the country blues drama of Arms Dealer, which features guest Damon T, providing a flavoursome turn in the album’s landscape while Dadgerous featuring Bison Steed wraps itself in a Kyuss meets Red Fang-esque roar. The track is outstanding, a virulent trespass of the senses which ignites the spirit and energies of those it touches.