Morpheus Descends started out as just Morpheus but changed its name along the way. The band was formed in 1990 when death metal was still young. In these days the outlines of several death metal subgenres became visible; for example the Florida death metal scene (with bands like Death, Obituary and Monstrosity) and Swedish death metal with bands like (Entombed, Dismember and Unleashed).
Another subgenre would later on be called New York death metal and featured bands such as Immolation, Incantation and most noteworthy of all Suffocation (come to think of it, they better should have called it –ation death metal). In that last category Morpheus Descends can be placed but sadly for them, their name wasn’t meant to be as widespread as their peers.

The beginning, in 1990, was promising enough though. Weeks after being formed, they already shared the stage with Morbid Angel. A first demo was quickly recorded and released and their name began to spread. Seraphic Decay Records wanted to re-release the demo and this became known as the “Adipocere” EP. A full length (“Ritual Of Infinity) was eventually recorded and released through JL America, a label that went bankrupt shortly after releasing it. So promotion and distribution was not optimal and Morpheus Descends crept back into obscurity.

Now, Xtreem Music plans to bring the band back into the spotlight by releasing “Ritual Of Infinity” and “Adipocere” on one cd and if everything works out there will be another release featuring the two mini-cd’s and the demo recorded after that.

The music, then. What we hear on “Ritual Of Infinity” is just the thing that could be expected: a primordial form of NY death metal with a shabby production which was considered good enough in the early nineties I think. Keeping that in mind and listening beyond that it is still an entertaining cd. The music is slow, compared to present times (no blast beats for example!) but the technical level of these guys is high and I really like the dirty grunt.
The material is strong enough to be interesting even after more than fifteen years, a testament of the quality of it. I can only image how this must have sounded back then because I ofcourse have a whole different musical background compared to the fans in 1992.

The band was reformed recently and will play some shows in 2006 and there are even plans for a new album. I wonder if they can hold up against the younger generation after all those years but if I take this material in mind and extrapolate it with the added years of experience combined with a present day production, things could get interesting.