Morpholith – Null Dimensions

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Reykjavík is the capital city of Iceland. I know this remarkable bit of information because I saw that Will Ferrell movie . . . and I have access to the internet and can read. Reykjavík is also home to MORPHOLITH, a Stoner/Doom Metal band who specializes in a sludge, cosmic doom that sounds like Vatnajökull looks. Vatnajökull, btw, is the largest ice cap in Iceland, the second in Europe. Again, because I read. I also have a friend that lives there. Reykjavik not Vatnajökull. He doesn’t listen to Stoner/Doom, but he will when I send him this review and tell him he’s in it. That’s called growing readership the hard way.

MORPHOLITH formed in 2015. They released their first EP, “Void Emissions,” in 2017 and their second EP, “Null Dimensions,” on December 5, 2020. Their first EP has three tracks; their second has two. The band prides themselves on having more amps than band members. While I’m not sure that’s too unusual for a metal band, it does make an interesting statistic. I guess it also causes personal space issues on stage, especially with social distancing and all that.

Side note: What if extreme db killed COVID-19? This would be mean that attending loud concerts would a cure to the pandemic and bands like MORPHOLITH could market themselves as an antidote. Just saying.

Anyway, a lot of Stoner/Doom bands for some reason or another are trios. MORPHOLTIH features five members including a dual guitar assault as well as a stand-alone vocalist who leans more into the clean, druidic drone than the guttural, satanic bellow. Like most sludge bands, they’re deep into the fuzz. In an interview they described their riffs as “fuzzier than the Icelandic sheep during winter.” That may be the best description of Psyche riffs ever, btw.

“Null Dimensions” is heavier and more languorous than their previous EP. Víðir Örn Gunnarsson also has less mic time, and there aren’t any sudden tempo shifts, up or down. It feels more deliberate and while the band still explores a wide range of movements, the album comes across as more monolithic than their first. All of these are simply points of description rather than value calls. Both EPs are very good, and there is a distinct evolution from one to the next.

For people long into Stoner/Doom but new to MORPHOLITH, I recommend picking up both EPs. I mean we’re only talking five tracks and total of an hour of music. You could then sit in front of your speakers and immerse yourself in COVID-killing, eardrum-splitting sludgy cure.

Songwriting: 6
Musicianship: 7
Memorability: 6
Production: 7