Recaps Of Episodes #7 & 8 Of Metal Morpheus On The Borderline!!

Almost fittingly given that it is the 13th, let's spotlight episodes #7 & #8 of Metal Morpheus, the weekly metal-centric radio show on local internet station The Borderline. The show just aired it's eleventh episode yesterday, so we're slowly catching up, but for now, let's start with episode #7 from August 15th, where host Josh Amendola explored black metal for just under an hour that week. After outlining the usual tropes and themes of the subgenre and how it originated, Josh first introduced pioneering black metal legends Celtic Frost by way of their 1984 song "Into The Crypts Of Rays" (0:45), before moving on to Mercyful Fate's classic "Into The Coven" (5:55). Next up, Josh plays another vintage black metal cut, namely Bathory's "A Fine Day To Die" (11:25), with he follows by outlining the rather dark origins of the band's name, before playing a song by Morbid (not Morbid Angel), namely "My Dark Subconcious" (20:30).

The first half concludes with Ulver's 1997 song "Hymne I: Wolf & Fear" (25:30), which is on an album that is not on Spotify. The very memeable Immortal are next with their song "Solarfall" (32:25), before we head into that week's local talent, namely blackened doom metal veterans Woods of Ypres, from whom Josh plays two cuts from their last black metal-centric album "Woods III: Deepest Roots & Darkest Blues" back to back, including "Through Chaos & Solitude I Came" (38:35) and "The Northern Cold" (43:45). I am surprised that Josh didn't give more of a rundown of Woods of Ypres' lineup (even if just from this album) and their high points, but their story and run is very hard to sum up in a few minutes, so I can understand why he limited his remarks to just thanking David Gold. The last band of the episode is Windir, courtesy of their nine+ minutes long epic "Journey To The End" (49:20).

Josh does give some interesting context about Windir's sound and frontman beforehand, and yes, the long upbeat instrumental stretch is part of the song. The formal outro with Josh introducing himself and plugging the station is not on this episode, for the record. Solid episode with lots of brutal black metal action to behold from Europe and via Woods of Ypres, if lacking in some context given the grim and controversial nature of many black metal bands, so give the whole episode a listen at this link or above!

As for episode #8 from August 22nd, Josh took a deep dive into another subgenre known for long songs, namely progressive metal! A slightly shorter episode than previously, we start by looking at Canadian prog rock pioneers Rush via most of the opening suite of their classic album "2112", particularly "Overture" & "The Temples of Syrinx" (0:45), though he does not play "Discovery", which is probably for the best, as it'd eat up 20 minutes otherwise! Yes, Josh does acknowledge that Rush wrote part of "The Temples of Syrinx" while touring in the Soo. We stay in Canada by playing Voivod's "Nothingface" (8:50) next, before heading across the pond for a listen to Iron Maiden's classic "Moonchild" (13:50) from "Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son". Metal Morpheus goes a little underground next via Watchtower's "Control & Resistance" (20:00), though Josh fills us in well about their back story.

The episode's first half concludes with the legendary Rainbow and their song "Gates of Babylon" (27:35), complete with an interesting tidbit about when/how this song was written, and it is quite more paranormal in tone than you may expect! We hit the local content section of this episode next via long-lamented progressive/death metal favourites Gates of Winter, and like with Woods in episode #7, they get two back to back songs. This time, they are from their 2008 LP "Lux Aeterna", namely their self-titled instrumental (36:10) and "Burning Kingdom II: Heavenly Insurgence" (40:30). Sadly, there's no background info or context given for Gates of Winter here despite their ubiquity in the mid-late 2000s and the prolonged recording sessions in the 2010s for their unreleased third CD, but it is nice to hear them again! Like in the previous episode, we close here with another lengthy cut.

In this case, the song is Swedish progressive death metal legends Opeth's epic "The Leper Affinity" (46:15), which is fine by me, as I love this era of Opeth's career! The episode does have a proper outro again, but rather than Josh's spoken plug for the station, it's the main title music from The Matrix!? Another quality episode, especially moreso for my musical tastes, and I especially liked the Rainbow anecdotes, so genre fans will be well served to check out this episode here or above! That's all for today, but listen to episode #12 live on The Borderline this Sunday night at 9:00 PM or on demand after the fact next week, and stay tuned for our recaps of episodes #9-11 on the site soon! Thanks everyone!