ninehertz

This debut EP from Italians Manchester Morgue is less than fourteen minutes long, but with a keen eye on its narrative there’s a lot of enjoyment to be found within.

This is a band with a shared love of B movie horrors and “19th-century gothic” and they have a particular story behind each of the three songs here. The Sorcerer describes a return to life of a deceased necromancer, which opens with a brief Ennio Morricone feel before leaning towards the proto-doom of Witchcraft or early Graveyard. You get a sense of the drama they are aiming to inject, without ever becoming pompous.

Farewell to Gleann An Ghad tell a tale of an Irish emigrant escaping his past, the mood of the music adapting accordingly with a countryside folk that makes it sound like an ancient traditional cover. Betrayers has a wicked snarl in the guitars that signals a return to doomier climes, although with a pastoral psych-folk feel as it settles into progressive stoner rock. Its tale is of a nobleman consumed by his betrayal.

It makes for a neat, brief record, a cool introduction to a band, one to keep tabs on from here.