It is true that during the last few years the obsession that bands have to play Black or atmospheric Metal has grown to the point of plague. This alone, of course, is not bad. The problem is that a big percentage of all these bands are copies of something else or just are completely uninspired. Morgul, I would say, is somewhere in between.
Morgul was created in 1991, in Norway by Hex (drummer) and Jack D. Ripper (Maestro Discordio) who is responsible for the whole arrangement. After two demos Morgul released their first full length album Lost In Shadows Grey and Paradox Of The Mass a year later. They became quite famous with their third album, The Horror Grandeur, an album that gained the respect of the fans and many good reviews from around the world. The next one, Sketch Of Supposed Murderer fluctuated at the same level as The Horror.... In this last attempt, All Dead Here, Morgul left Century Media and was welcomed by Season of Mist, already being famous enough in the Black Metal scene.
Maestro Discordio is once again responsible for the all the arrangements. The album begins with an intro that could have been a reference to a Gothic / Industrial band. Jack's interest in the cold music of Fields Of The Nephilim or Rob Zombie in his previous musical attempts explains this. However the growls and the up-tempo riffs in The Mask Of Sanity, the second song, show what Morgul really is. The often alternations in the music might confuse the listener. The growls alternate with recitations, Black / Symphonic Metal with more atmospheric / melodic parts, mid-tempo with up-tempo parts, moody keyboard parts and folk / traditional compositions. Especially the singer, he has a big scale of expressing his voice. It shapes from Black Metal vocals to Industrial and creates an introverted feeling, from time to time. As for the music, I have the impression that Morgul are trying to compete with Dimmu Borgir, The Kovenant and even Arcturus without achieving very big success.
The listener will find some quite interesting and very inspired parts like the song All Dead Here which begins with quite a thrilling melody, but unfortunately these moments of shining cannot remove the album from the level of mediocrity. That doesn't mean that All Dead Here is a bad album. On the contrary, there are some melodies that can captivate and allure the listener, but most of the times they remind him of something else. The presence of the keys is very obvious from the beginning to the end and it is responsible for the symphonic character of the record. I would like to make a special remark on the fascinating and seducing violin melodies found in the songs Sanctus Perversum and Hategrinder, played by Maestro Pete Johansen. As for the album title, All Dead Here expresses our world today and it's a statement that accurately describes the state of the human flock according to Season of Mist.
As a conclusion I would like to remind the listeners that even though Morgul had borrowed many elements and are influenced by other bands, they manage to preserve a portion of the atmosphere of bands like Dimmu Borgir or Arcturus. This of course is not a bad record, I just think that Morgul can make their own steps in the Metal scene without the slightest impression of imitating someone else because it's obvious that they know the pattern to create good music. I would only recommend this album to the big fans of the genre.