In their free time from serving as the reigning and defending crossover thrash champions of the last 21 years, the members of Municipal Waste enjoy writing and playing music with other bands. Just ask drummer Dave Witte, whose resume is second to none and now features Morbikon, a new band with Witte on drums, “Land Phil” Hall (Municipal Waste, Cannabis Corpse) and Finntroll vocalist Vreth.
Morbikon don’t sound like what you expect based on the lineup, leaning into the trio’s black metal tendencies with a little bit of everything—ripping speed, melodic and catchy and even a little black-thrash. “Universal Funeral” is aided by an excellent, humorous video about a frog that learns its own bravery. The video was written, directed, edited and animated by Land Phil, who learned animation specifically for Morbikon.
“Over the past 17 years I have had the great fortune of playing thrash and death metal all over the world,” Hall says, “And I appreciate every moment of it! It’s no secret that I am a fan of almost every stylistic corner of metal, and there is one dark and evil corner in particular that I wanted to try my hand in. Morbikon was born from my love of the classic bands of the second wave of this style. And also from my newly budding interest in creating animation. It was a very challenging endeavor to write these epic songs and create an equally epic animated video. This first single is my very first foray into both artistic realms. But I really enjoy the end result. I hope that you do too!”
Tankcrimes is releasing “Universal Funeral” as a cassingle and a 7-inch, both of which can be grabbed at their site.