EUPHROSYNE
Morus
Black Lion Records

“Morus” is the debut full-length album by relative newcomers EUPHROSYNE, who have risen majestically from the Underworld to lay waste to us with their mix of post-blackened doom metal. The sheer amount of emotion filling these eight tracks is enough to bring all the souls in Tartarus to tears and quench the fires of Hades itself.

EUPHROSYNE were birthed in 2021AD when vocalist Efi Eva and guitarist Alex Despotidis shared their common vision to create hauntingly melodic music that would break down the barriers to what post-black music is considered to be. Their EP “Keres” arrived the following year to critical acclaim and they solidified the line-up with George Gazis on bass and Stelios Pepinidis on drums.

The new album is an experiential concept record that deals with the tragic loss of Alex’s mother and all of the pain and the suffering that one endures during such a difficult time. The heartbreaking realisation of death and all of the feelings surrounding it helps fill the music with a raw, emotional intensity unlike anything I have heard.

The album opens with the title track “Morus” and it’s a beautiful little instrumental piece with some softly spoken words towards the end of the song. That then leads us straight into “July 21st” which has one of the most emotional transitions in any song on the album. The track starts with a haunting piano melody with Efi singing a few bars before a sombre violin joins in and we can feel the sadness and the pain in the notes as the song builds and builds, until finally we hear her tortured soul shatter with a shriek that tears the veil itself. Efi unleashes her harsh vocals and the drums explode in a barrage of blast beats as the song goes into overdrive with all of its pent up anger, frustration and hate at what has happened used as fuel to fire up the intensity. A truly stand-out piece of music.

“Valley Of White” shifts through the gears with its relentless opening, setting a good pace before breaking out into a moment of almost prog-like calm. That calm is definitely the calm before the storm, as the force is once again cranked up with a very cool black metal riff and the orchestrations swirling and howling around like The Anemoi (Wind Gods in Greek Mythology).

“Eulogy” continues the intense, emotional journey with the opening verses delivered with such venom before they shift and soar as Efi shows off her incredible range and versatility. There is such beauty in all of this pain, I find myself at a loss for words sitting here with it all washing over me.

“Mitera” is sung in Greek and is probably the best song on the album. I say probably, because every track is incredible and it is so hard to pick one. In all my listens, I think I had each track down as a favourite at one point.

Closing track “Lilac Ward” is an 8-minute journey where we go through the whole range of emotions all over again. The final 3 minutes of the song have no lyrics, but the music does such an amazing job I could feel myself floating towards the Asphodel Meadows bathed in its eternal glow.

I have to make a special mention of the guitar playing. The melodies throughout the album are phenomenal. They are so melodic and at the times when they soar so beautifully with an anguished Efi pouring her heart out over every word, they give the album such a feeling of light and dark, beauty and pain, love and grief. And it’s that contrast all throughout the album which makes this so special.

Each band member does a remarkable job over the course of the album’s almost 43-minute runtime. There is no filler here, every note has its place. It is an amazing example of musicians creating something so beautiful out of something so tragic. EUPHROSYNE have crafted something incredible here and it is so exciting to think of where they go next.

Russell Mulock-Bentley