Discworld 2014 [Eximius Humanus]

Morpheus Rising - Eximius Humanus [CD Review]

Melodic Revolution Records

Released: February 2014

Formed in 2008 Morpheus Rising are a five piece rock/metal band based in York and although  they released their debut album Let The Sleeper Awake in 2011, I have to confess they didn’t come to my attention until last year when Ex Saxon & ODS drummer Nigel Durham joined the band. Now a couple of years on from that debut CD and the band have another album out on Melodic Revolution Records titled Eximius Humanus which they launched in February at the Robin 2 Bilston.

Heavily inspired by the NWOBHM genre Morpheus Rising (MR) also combine many other influences in their music, the new album is ten tracks of heavy metal for the twenty-first century but there’s also a progressive sound to some of the songs on Eximius Humanus reminiscent of prog metal bands like Queensrÿche for example.

Track one; Super Human is really only an intro to track two, Looking For Life, the latter with it’s sci-fi concept of searching for a new earth combining with the formers search for the superman we all hope lurks within us all and while track one is an electronic jingling build up, an overture if you will to track two which sounds more typical of MR, all powerful riffs and durable drum beats.

All ten songs have been written by Pete Harwood (guitar) and Si Wright (lead vocals) and the rest of MR’s line up is Damien Sweeting (guitar) Andy Smith (bass) and the aforementioned Nigel Durham (drums) together they’ve produced a commanding, well crafter album that almost seems like a concept album so significant are the lyrics, no insipid love songs or brash battle metal anthems will ye find here.

Day Number One is the third track, a song about getting back to the beginning, starting again, renewing our view of the world, it’s a melodic number with lots of harmonising backing vocals. Mega City One comes next and is one of the best songs on the album, you’ll know all about this distopian vision of the future if you’ve ever read a Judge Dredd comic book. Musically Mega City One has catchy riffs, blistering guitar breaks and a sing along chorus; it leads directly into Fly Higher an uplifting tune about achieving great things, lyrically a complete antithesis to the previous number.

Tracks six, seven and eight are all weighty hard rock songs with tantalising guitar riffs and lead breaks. Eximius Humanus’ penultimate song, Touch The Sky is slower in tempo, it’s a kind of superpower ballad and for all it’s popular familiarly the lyrics don’t dumb down any “Ectopic beats born through anxiety, My heart skips another beat and I’m far away, into the blackening blue, I dream I’m flying with you, higher and higher we climb, I never want to Wake” is the opening verse, weighty stuff I’m sure you’ll agree.

The album concludes with the excellent Superpower and we’re pretty much back to where we started, as I said earlier this isn’t a concept album but many of the underlying themes of the individual songs imbue the listener with a sense of the familiar. An overall anticipation of achievement coupled with the fear of disaster pervade throughout every song on Eximius Humanus in short an album packed with thought provoking lyrics, backed up with exemplary tuneful heavy metal music.

Get your copy of Eximius Humanus on Morpheus Rising’s website:

http://www.morpheusrising.co.uk/

GD Manofmetal.