Chapter I - Burden
I. Visions
II. Dormant Insurrection
III. Becoming the Omen
Chapter II - Occurrences
I. Gallery of Fools
II. Lifting of the Veil
III. Going Under
IV. Ruination
Chapter III - Reflections of...
I. Silent Judgement
II. A Return
III. Facing Fate
IV. Prosperity
Full-length debut - it has a bunch of different styles ranging from aggressive/heavy to very melodic/catchy to epic/folk to thrash to power metal to prog.
It's also a concept album with a big story and lots of twists.
Review from: vaskarc.hu - 9/10
The two guitarists are really masters of the strings whether they play classical jerky metal riffs, or place a melodic guitar solo. As a trademark of the melodic death metal style, the bands often like to make a short journey into other subgenres like gothic, dark melancholic metal. We can notice in case of Morbid Theory, too.
I would also recommend Harbinger to anti-death metal fans because they will find a dozens of acoustic intros and melodies. They safely can check Becoming the Omen where the acoustic guitars and keyboards help the singer present the intro of the song. This intro leads to a very complex 8 minute track with interesting piano parts inside. Any progressive metal bands would become envious and take a bow immediately.
The rhythm section, including bass/drums, are well put together. I have to highlight the drummer who can prove that he can do the melodic prog-death sound. I liked the improvements above the general melodic death metal style by putting more attention on progressive complex portions of the songs. I am sure that Morbid Theory is a newcomer to this style with thousands of new thoughts. It is worth listening to these songs for all traditional fans and some brave anti-death metal fans as well. There is lots of changing between slow/quick parts and they often parade with piano parts or melodic guitar solos.
I would like to highlight Going Under which goes back to 80's thrash metal world, which could be a tribute to the masters King/Hanneman. I have heard the best prog-metal song ever called Silent Judgement, where the Canadians mix the acoustic parts with the deadly quick guitars riffs, led by some background symphonies. I also really liked A Return where a female voice comes in which is shredded by the drummer's double bass rhythms. This idea is very new and I have never heard something like it for the 25 years that I've been familiar with metal music.
The melodic death metal style is crowded by thousands of bands from US and Europe but I can feel something unique, young, fresh, and dynamic in Morbid Theory.
/ XBTT (1) by Dejavu