Eternal Dirge - Morbus Ascendit / Demos 1989-1990 2CD

LISTEN: Morbus Ascendit reissue preview

Underrated and somewhat overlooked in the glut of early '90s death and thrash bands, Germany's Eternal Dirge were simultaneously mining a familiar vein of metal while also expanding into stranger territory that most of their peers would not touch. Their debut album "Morbus Ascendit" combined the frantic speed, wild riffs and death growls of bands like Sadus and Morbid Saint, with progressive touches and fully melodic passages that revealed greater ambition than just aping what was popular in the underground at the time. Out of print and commanding high prices on the secondhand market for years, Unspeakable Axe is proud to present a new reissue of "Morbus Ascendit" in all its original glory and then some.

This new double disc set has the entire original album as disc 1, here gently remastered for a greater dynamic range but otherwise in much the same state that fans will remember it. Disc 2 meanwhile consists of the two demos that preceded the album, "Right to the Core" (1989) and "We Are the Dead" (from 1990 - commonly and erroneously referred to as "Pressurize Dehumanize"). The band considers these two their best pre-album work, and they show a group evolving from fairly straight-up (albeit vicious) thrash to the unique progressive death/thrash blend they showed on their debut. Additionally, the set includes a meaty 20-page booklet with extensive liner notes written by the original band members, plus lyrics, archival photos, and more. And to cap it off, the album art has been painstakingly re-created in higher resolution and full color from a new scan made of the original painting. This is "Morbus Ascendit" as it was meant to be seen and heard.