Honorable Mentions from the Abyss #24: Iato/Gôr Mörgul

Hey brutal bangers,

I remember that, in the early days of the 'zine (I am talking about something like 10 years ago!), I was always in search of Sardinian bands because I literally fell in love with the extreme metal scene of this so fascinating region called Sardinia, that I unfortunately never visited so far, even though some of very far origins of mine come just from there. Though not on purpose, both the Italian bands of this episode of "Honorable Mentions from the Abyss" come from Sardinia, and they are named Iato and Gôr Mörgul.

I received their respective albums in physical format from Satanath Records, along with "Exaltatus Mechanism" of Abigorum (the black/doom metal band of Alexey Koryolov, the owner of the aforementioned label), whose I'll talk about soon in another article. I'm sorry with Alexey if I am talking about these albums only now after I received them one year ago but, as someone says, "it's better late than never"! And don't forget that I included all these bands in the last episode of "Come on, burn my ears!"!

So, enjoy this article and discover these great bands if you still don't know them!

IATO – “UCRONIA”

Firstly, I'll talk about Iato (FB page), a quartet born in 2011 born from the ashes of Ejaculazione HC, a hardcore punk bands lasted some intense years. Since their foundation, the Iato, in which there is someone playing even in Vultur (the drummer Lorenzo), have reached some important milestones like supporting gigs to bands of the calibre of Cripple Bastards, Necrodeath, Obituary and Entombed A.D.. Instead, last year they released their debut album, "Ucronia", edited by the Ukrainian GrimmDistribution along with the Italian The Triad Records. This collaboration produced something very interesting and also destructive.

Made up by 8 tracks, "Ucronia" ("uchronia" in Italian) starts already very violently through the opening song "Letargico conflitto". Starting with it, the listeners are martyrized with a various and dynamic death metal that is old-school but modern at the same time and able to spew forth truly different moments, so to range from an extreme violence to a dark atmosphere prevailing, for example, in the final "Requiem", the only one track of the album more based on slow/mid-tempos. The influences are wide and include hardcore punk (naturally!), thrash metal, grindcore and, in a song like "Occhio unico", there are even oriental hooks. Also the vocal deparment presents a good variety since it see an alternation between corrosive screams and deep growls (the main vocals), that can become unhuman pig squeals, like in a brutal death metal band. I found the lyrics, that are exclusively in Italian, as truly effective and worthy to be read with attentions because they denounces the capitalistic system and the alienated conditions of the people in this society, with some clear references to the Orwell's works ("Occhio unico"). In brief, if you want to receive a mortal embrace by a death metal that is imaginative, excellently structured and even characterized by intelligent lyrics, then, I think that the Iato ("hiatus" in Italian), that sometimes remind me of Hyperborea, will surely live up to your expectations!

GÔR MÖRGUL - "ELOHIM"

Well, if Iato, for their lyrics, are based on the reality, the Gôr Mörgul (FB page), at the contrary, are a band with a more spiritual side, as you'll see soon. I am talking about four Sardinian demons with a good experience behind them because Gôr Mörgul were born in 2007 and, so far, they realized three full-lenght albums, and two of them were edited by Satanath Records. Included this "Elohim", that was released in co-production with the US label Death Portal Studio.

"Elohim", that was recorded at the Cut Fire Mixing Studios that were used by the same Iato for their "Ucronia", is full of references to deities and demons belonging to ancient religions and mythologies, and it seems that the bands have studied a lot also their rites. So, they set to music all this obscure knowledge through a black/death metal that is very violent but technical and also sometimes ritualistic (especially in the acoustic moments here and there, like in "Extinction"). In practice, theirs is a style that can be considered as a combination between the US death metal à la Morbid Angel and Nile (also for some guitars with an ancient and oriental flavour), the occult black/death/doom metal of the Necros Christos and the ferocious black/death metal of the Belphegor, with the addition of growling vocals reminding me of Greek black metal bands such as the majestic Thy Darkened Shade. The only flaw in all this comes from the drums, whose I don't like so much the snare's sound, a bit strange and weak. But, after a while, it's easy to overlook this due to the high quality of the songs, of which my favorite ones are "Lamaštu" (like the cruel demon of the Mesopotamian myths) and "Extinction". And, anyway, even though their lyrics aren't based on the reality, Gôr Mörgul openly supported the Italian Red Cross in full Covid emergence. How can you not love a band able to do this?