Our Recap Of The First Episode Of Metal Morpheus On The Borderline!!

Today's post is devoted to our long overdue recaps of the premiere episodes of Metal Morpheus, the new metal-centric radio show on local internet station The Borderline, which premiered on Sunday, July 4th and airs live on Sundays at 9:00 PM. Unlike some other on-demand episodes on the station's website, episode playlists aren't posted on their respective pages, so what can you expect going in? Starting with episode #1 (which runs for 62 minutes), it leads off with an introductory theme song that honestly sounds too busy, before former Winkstinger/Twistory frontman Josh Amendola (curiously credited just under his last name) introduces us to the show proper, which is themed around the beginning of heavy metal in both local and global senses. Fittingly, the first song played is Black Sabbath's eponymous song from 1970, and Josh does explain the back story of how that song was written. It's a long song, so the next segment doesn't begin until around the 9 minute mark, in case you want to skip ahead.

Josh next sets up Led Zeppelin in a very similar fashion, outlining the band & their song "Whole Lotta Love", before introducing a segment on Deep Purple at around 16:30, with the played song being an abbreviated version of their 1970 epic "Child In Time". By about 21:30, Josh transitions to a segment on Deep Purple guitarist Richie Blackmore's later band Rainbow, whose played song is "Man On The Silver Mountain". Ending the first half of the episode is a bit on Motorhead at about the 28 minute mark, from which their slower but still heavy classic "The Chase Is Better Than The Catch" is played. The second half moves into local territory, with Josh picking up here at 33 minutes or so by discussing local black/doom metal band Woods of Ypres, from which he plays "The Will To Give" from 2004's "Pursuit Of The Sun & Allure Of The Earth". Note that at 41:24, the on-demand stream glitches out.

At this point, it abruptly jumps from Josh outlining his appreciation for the riffs in that song to the middle of him appearing to credit members of Woods of Ypres' 2008-2009 lineup (back when they had members of Gates of Winter in their lineup). Speaking of which, that very band is brought up next, with Josh playing "Omega", the closing number from the long lamented progressive/death metal quintet's 2008 CD "Lux Aeterna". At about 47:30, Metal Morpheus heads back across the pond for a segment on Judas Priest, from which Amendola plays both "Dreamer Deciever" and "Deciever" (one flows right into the other, after all.) The episode's final segment hits at about 56:45 when Josh gives some closing remarks and comes full circle by playing one more Black Sabbath song, "Wicked World". Interestingly, he records a station promo at the very end and gives some biographical information, name dropping some of his bands (I never knew he was in Pillory once!)

Having now checked out episode #1, what are my thoughts on Metal Morpheus' premiere? Not bad at all, and Josh was especially good at giving each band a capsule spotlight to explain some of their backstory, songwriting, and why they made an impact! A few names could be mispronounced, but this is the premiere, and I don't know that Josh has done something like this before. Honestly, he came across very approachable and friendly in the episode, and you get the sense that he'd love to talk about metal music with others (could musician interviews happen down the line?) I would have kept Judas Priest in a chronological order with the prior pioneering bands, while perhaps elaborating on the local side of things beyond just Gates & Woods, but again, this was the first episode. Two more hour-long episodes premiered on the 11th and 18th (about doom metal and grindcore respectively). 

I will absolutely recap those episodes in future posts on the SMS (one/both could drop as soon as this weekend), and yes, both do spotlight at least one local band each, as teased in the photos on both episodes' pages. As far as I know, the fourth episode of Metal Morpheus will premiere on The Borderline this Sunday at 9:00 PM, so give it a listen to see what genre or topics are getting the spotlight! That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews and more on the site next! Thanks everyone!