Album Review: Euphrosyne – Morus (Black Lion Records)

Greece’s Euphrosyne deliver a massive slab of post black/doom metal with their debut full length, Morus, set for release on the 21st of March.

Morus will be released through Black Lion Records and is the follow up tot he band’s debut release, the EP titled Keres, which came out in November 2022. With a series of live shows alongside Sylvaine, Ultha, Sakis Tolis, and more, Euphrosyne is establishing themselves as a new, focused, and inspired force with a strong visual identity, carving their path in the European post-metal scene.

Morus, is an experiential concept album inspired by the loss of the guitarist Alex Despotidis’ mother to cancer in 2017. The album follows the steps of grief through such a traumatic time. Starting with the realisation of death and the feelings surrounding it, to the final embrace and into the existential question. What lies beyond? It carries on into acceptance and the final journey towards the Asphodel Meadows—the section of the ancient Greek underworld where the majority of souls were sent to live after death.

Morus is written by Alex Despotidis, the lyrics by Efi Eva, the mixing and mastering by Psychon (Septicflesh), and artwork by Dimitris Tzortzis.

Euphrosyne is Efi Eva on vocals, Alex Despotidis on guitars, George Gazis on bass and Stelios Pepinidis on drums.

Euphrosyne deliver 8 tracks on Morus and across the whole album, the sense of sadness, anger, grief and frustration is palpable. From the opening track, the title track, which is an intro combining atmospheric sounds and spoken word, you feel quite quickly engaged. The spoken word isn’t in English, presumably it’s Greek, but the message is still loud and clear. That morose melody continues into July 21th (not a spelling mistake on my part). Clean, gloomy singing and a gorgeous but equally dark piano melody lead us on. It’s very beautiful, but also dark and moody before things take a turn.

An explosion of frustration sees our female singer transform into a beast with vicious rasping vocals, heavy drums and riffs. There is a melodeath vibe as well coming through some stunning lead guitar work and all the while the melancholic piano adds a layer in the background. It’s a very cool song, emphatic and emotional and their truth comes pouring into your ears authentically.

Having seen a few different sides to Euphrosyne already, Valley of White then delivers a song that brings a mix of styles and plenty of atmospheric touches. Kicking straight off with crunchy riffs and drums, before transitioning into a more melodic section with clean vocals that ooze class. As the music picks up pace and energy, the vocals start clean to create another new combination. It grows, it evolves and the vocals adapt with the song eventually ending up in a crescendo of darkness. Then, we start getting orchestral layers – little hints of symphonic sounds and piano melody creating a song with depth that matches the deep message.

Eulogy keeps the twists coming with a song that has a little bit of an industrial vibe with a heavier use of electronic sounds and echoing on the vocals. Layers and transitioning is a theme on Morus and the same happens here as the song progresses with layers added as we build to a strong and ionate chorus. There is a lot happening in this one, but it gels nicely.

Funeral Rites brings melancholy, doom and gloom to the forefront with fuzzy drums, sombre cleans and a stunning violin. It does get heavier, but also darker as the song moves on with some really meaty riffs and drums shaking you to your core. I love the vocals again. There are so many styles used across a song, and on this one, the lead guitar melody follows the vocals in a really cool way. Neat solo this time round as well, because, why not.

Mitera continues on with the gloom and melancholy through it’s opening guitar melody, but just for a bit. Once the atmosphere has gripped you, it transforms into a beastly track with driving riffs, blasting drums and ripping vocals. Sung in Greek, it’s a powerful and emotive track that transforms into a bit of a post black or black gaze style as we start hearing leads shine through the darkness, or through the gorgeous solo. Asphodel has a more optimistic vibe to it’s slightly bouncier melody at the start but still transitions as things progress. It becomes a much heavier track, with bassy riffs that will get your head banging. The drums are powerful as well and of course, the vocals inspire. In of keeping an album fresh, Euphrosyne are killing it with the constant style transitions really keeping everything feeling very exciting.

Morus comes to a close with a longer track, and just over 8 minutes, called Lilac Ward. It kicks in straight away with a strong melody over a bed of pounding drums and blackened riffs. Cleaner and gentler verses deliver echoing drum taps, gentle melody and clean vocals before emphatically switching into short blasts of crunchy metal. It drags you out of the vibe of the softer parts, delivering a sudden blast of doubt and fear. That repeats a few times before we head towards the end and are treated to an extended instrumental outro to this track. The combinations of drums, melody, riffs and backing are beautiful and give you time to really absorb all that has come before. As the curtain comes down, Euphrosyne ensure you leave this album with a head full of thoughts and a heart full of feelings.

Morus is a very strong album, and a really impressive debut. Clearly Euphrosyne  have an abundance of talent and skill but it takes something even more special to lay your emotions out so openly for everyone else to see and hear. For that I am grateful, but even if messaging and feeling aren’t why you listen to music, you will find an exciting album here that delivers darkness and heaviness, clever ideas, exciting song structures and a superb vocal performance. I expect, and hope, we will be hearing a lot more from Euphrosyne in the coming years.

Pre-order or pre-save Morus from Euphrosyne from Black Lion Records on Bandcamp, here, or on their website, here.

Track Listing:
1. Morus
2. July 21th
3. Valley of White
4. Eulogy
5. Funeral Rites
6. Mitera
7. Asphodel
8. Lilac Ward

Euphrosyne Links

Bandcamp – Facebook – Instagram – Black Lion Records