Morpholith Stream New Album Dystopian Distributions of Mass Produced Narcotics in Full; Out Thursday
This week marks the release date of Morpholith‘s Dystopian Distributions of Mass Produced Narcotics, the Icelandic cosmic doomers’ awaited debut album on Interstellar Smoke Records after the successful heraldry of two prior EPs. And while it’s true it’s been four years since the arrival of the second of those, the Null Dimensions EP (review here), they say that when you hang out so close to the singularity of a black hole time dilates in unpredictable ways, so those close to Morpholith may have experienced that wait as thousands of years, a few days, who the hell knows. Time is fun pretend to start with and gradually the whole universe will be eaten by the lug of “Dismalium” anyway, so I promise you it doesn’t matter. Long-term, nothing will. The arc of history bends toward oblivion.
Morpholith‘s first album — and it’s worth unpacking the title a little as they do below: we’re talking about a scenario in which some public actor, presumably a governmental body of some post-apocalyptic kind, has begun manufacturing and handing out drugs to a populace, one assumes as a salve for despair or escapism?; hard to know, but it’s not impossible they got the name of the record from the tv; people say all kinds of silly shit on there — isn’t an event in terms of advance-hype, but it stands as a cosmic doom testament to the physical presence of aural heft. The Ufomammut-circa-Eve-worthy combination of heavy and space in the payoff of 10-minute opener “Mountainous,” the plunge into wash that song takes before, gloriously, reemerging from an ether that would indeed consume so many other, many longer-tenured, bands, and the well justified bellow that accompanies tell you early on that the five-piece are onto something special, and yes, they are. The shorter “Narcofactory” becomes a kind of echo-laced gothic doomy volcano-produced obsidian rock and “Metabaron” resolves in lumber with a scorching solo for the transition, but starts out at a galloping pace that’s about as close as Morpholith come to rush, and “Psychosphere” makes it plain that runtime here is 
about more than just pace; as bombastic as it gets, it’s the slowdown that finishes it off.
But by the end of “Psychosphere,” and really by the start of it, Morpholith have masterfully subsumed the listener in their tonality, breadth and atmosphere. They’ve shifted through tempo — somewhat; remember that sounding monolithic is part of the point here — and showed the reach in the guitars of Hörður and Víðir‘s guitars, the density and roll of bassist Gestur and drummer Jónas and the ability of vocalist Snæbjörn to shift between morose crooning, lower shouts and full-on sludge metal growls to coincide with a given part. Like YOB, Morpholith are as much about the far-out as a sonic smother, and the scope of longer pieces continues to expand from where the opener leaves off, with “Hellscaper,” which is just as nasty as you please until it shows a sliver of mercy in the second-half payoff, or the closing pair of the aforementioned “Dismalium,” which has room in its cavernous mix to drop slow-rhythm bomb tones in its engrossing final nod and the 16-minute clearly-marked-exit “Exoportal,” which answers back to the noted reemergence-from-chaos in “Mountainous” and moves into the fade on its own, organ-topped — both songs feature guest keys from Arnaldur Ingi Jónsson, also of prog shufflers Lady in Blue and the only performer here to list a surname — finish backed by residual hum from the guitars and bass.
It’s not a minor undertaking at about an hour long, but Morpholith give the listener places to dwell in that time and have a dynamic that goes beyond me-likey-loud-band-play-slow. A lot of what makes Dystopian Distribution of Mass Produced Narcotics — and really, we should be so lucky; in the US they’d charge for them — so effective as a front-to-back listen is that its roil and churn define it while not actually being all the double-guitar five-piece does in terms of mood, ambience, whatever you want to call it. To be sure, we’re talking about Very, Very Heavy™-level heavy, the kind of heavy that becomes a calling card for an act as it has for some of those mentioned above, but I’ll tell you the truth of where I’m at with it: this is one of the best albums I’ve heard in 2024, in addition to being one of the best debut albums — it’s in my notes twice over, which doesn’t always happen — and it heralds what could become a significant presence in cosmic doom. And because I’d feel remiss if I didn’t pay this particular hyper-specific compliment: hearing it reminds me of how excited I was in 2013 when Mühr (from whence sprang Temple Fang) released their own debut, Messiah (discussed here). If you have any idea how I feel about that record even now, you’ll know that’s not something I say lightly or without reason.
A couple years in the making, you’ll find Dystopian Distribution of Mass Produced Narcotics streaming in full on the player below, followed by more background from the PR wire on the concept, recording credits, etc.
Please enjoy:
Album recording process started in Reykjavík in 2022 with most of the record being recorded in Studio Paradís with Ásmundur Jóhannsson (Sleeping Giant) with some alterations and overdubs done in Stúdíó Helvíti with Helgi Durhuus (Ottoman, Celestine) in 2023. It was mixed by Chris van der Valk (CXVIII and Grave Superior) and Mastered by Chris Fielding (Conan) at Foel Studios in the UK.
The album’s artwork was done by Ryan T Hancock and layout by Skaðvaldur.
The album’s theme explores the implications of a dystopian galactic empire and how psychoactive stimulants are manufactured on a planetary scale in such a society. Among other things.
The album is a continuation and a more evolved version of what we set out with our two previous EP’s, who both round up to half an hour each, the full length debut is a full hour in length and is the culmination of what we have learned as a band since we first started.
Tracklist:
01 Mountainous (10:26)
02 Psychosphere (6:07)
03 Narcofactory (4:22)
04 Hellscaper (9:21)
05 Metabaron (3:53)
06 Dismalium (10:23)
07 Exoportal (16:07)
The album will be released on the 24th of October 2024 on Interstellar Smoke Records as a double LP gatefold record with two variants of pressing methods.
Album Lineup:
Gestur – Bass
Hörður – Guitar
Jónas – Drums
Snæbjörn – Vocals
Víðir – Guitar
Guest Musician:
Arnaldur Ingi Jónsson (Lucy In Blue) – Organ on Mountainous and Exoportal
Morpholith, “Metabaron” official video
Morpholith, “Psychosphere” official video
Interstellar Smoke Records on Bandcamp
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