Wandering through the wintry undercroft in wraithlike mourn Stockholm, Sweden-based dark black/death metal band LEPRA introduce themselves with a morbid haunt of a debut demo tape in ‘Mortuus Morgana‘, the result of a couple of years spent generating their own garage-bound “cadaver rock” modus. Stone-faced post-punk inflected dark metal one moment and fevered bone-gnawing deathcrust the next this uncertain marriage of forms finds its rooting in 90’s romanticist blackened death metal of old while conjuring considerable expanse of their own via longform pieces. Three core pieces writ between two distinct hands create a wild amount of interest here which thrashes, rants and collapses into funereal doomed state all in the course of about twenty five minutes. There is some brilliant potential crystallizing here in real time, boding well for what they’ll create in the future.

Lepra formed as a trio in 2023 with guitarist/lyricist F.F. and drummer G.M. (Black Wound) sharing the songwriting duties on this release and Atonement/ex-Eternal Evil bassist N.S. providing the vocals and graphic design. Their idea is distinctly inspired by the early 90’s Swedish extreme and melodic metal zeitgeist but perhaps not the usual suspects as this substantial demo/EP attempts a full-ranged bout of exposition which defies quick and clean categorization. From my point of view it’d have fit in somewhere between the ambitions of Sarcasm‘s ‘Dark‘ demo and early Katatonia (alternately, Tiamat) yet even still that doesn’t cover the wrathful crust punk inspired cut of some of these movements nor the black metal infused aspect of others. It’ll eventually become clear that the two main songwriters have a different hand when it comes to developing melody via rhythm guitar yet keeping their presentation simple and buried deep underground helps seal it all together in the same general crypt.

Keeping it cavernous per a wholly gravebound demo level production value helps meld the band’s efforts to wrangle the spirit of a certain era and though this subterranean swelling sound gives the drums a particularly novel stands it also sets us in an underground headspace which is forgiving of the general lack of tightness which typically comes with time. That said the buried sound of ‘Mortuus Morgana‘ is remarkably readable on all fronts despite it sounding like they’d recorded the drums on a brick riser in a waterlogged sewer with fifteen foot ceilings, it gives the ear some manner of depth to chase which naturally grants a deeply immersive listen. Per my own experience sitting with Lepra‘s work I’d gotten the sensation of listening to ex-crossover thrashers play death metal in the early 90’s, veering off course into grind, goth/post-punk and that era of black metal without any decided-upon handbook to pull from.

Penned by F.F. opener “Where Despair has Made its Home” takes its dramatic opening salvo and applies a hammer to this echoic space, rasping through a crust-built rush for its first four or so minutes ’til the break in the clouds around ~4 minutes in makes good on the romanticist gloom suggested prior, eventually transforming the shaping of their refrain into melodic black/death outburst. This is one of the most satisfyingly kicked rants on the demo per my own taste in terms of leaning into the thread and making something that feels rehearsal room crafted, authentic and ambitious in some sense. At some point they’ve accumulated enough ‘tude to work out a big rock guitar solo to finish the thought and this’d served this 90’s-in-transition sensibility well. Though we only get one piece from F.F. on this release it gels nicely with the gloomier hand elsewhere and serves as an memorable opener.

You’ll get the post-punk, crust, and restlessly doomed spectrum from the opening moments of “In Silence She Lay Still”, once again eventually residing in a blasted-at cacophonic space a la ‘In Battle There is No Law‘ which contrasts strongly with the dramatic melodicism developed elsewhere, almost invoking something post-blackened around the middle of the piece. Though these are at times simpler gestures or familiar transitions which may or may not always work Lepra do so with a confidence, and a harrowing vocal shred, which creates a convincing enough atmosphere which is not always classicist but does appear personally conjured. Otherwise my favorite part of this ~8 minute song comes via the doomed outro which hits beyond ~6:38 minute mark as an odd point which is immediately evocative of ancient funeral death/doom, that cavernous sound lingering in its final roar via clean guitar tones.

The brief instrumental interlude, “Morning Mist Horizon”, which follows elaborates upon the atmosphere of “In Silence She Lay Still” in a simple enough way though it only provides necessary space to digest between these extended songs before carrying directly over into the closing piece. “Endless Crimson Dawn” is the standout blueprint here beyond the opener as it toys with the scaling rhythms of classic melodic black/death metal to start, whirring with a deadpan rush to its opening movement before slowing toward a more typical sort of neoclassical guitar derived guitar hook. Here we get a sense for their raw nerves having calmed and an impressive composition hand unfurling a bit more. This is a more successful treatment of old-and-new ideas than “In Silence She Lay Still” albeit one which requires patience and, on my part, an appreciation for a beat delivered down a stone-walled crypt. The first and last impression made on this demo are its most assured strengths and I’d greatly appreciated the ~6-7 minutes stretches they’ve lent the idea, allowing it to develop both rational and erratic moodiness via transitions along the way.

As suggested earlier the potential displayed within ‘Mortuus Morgana‘ should be obvious enough beyond a couple of attentive spins as the rawness of Lepra‘s sound paired with the yet slightly unsure hand of their musicianship makes for a release which is ambitious but thankfully not too perfectionist in its authorship. This more-or-less suits their indeterminate yet referential style though I’m tentatively interested to see how this develops over time. Even if their melodic voice never fully matures into deeper sophistication there is yet something entertaining about being along for a short but dramatic ride as long as they’ve kept it in the context of the most clandestine portion of 90’s extreme metal. A moderately high recommendation.

NOTE: ‘Mortuus Morgana‘ was originally self-released digitally on early December of 2024, got a tape release via Stygian Black Hand in February of this year, was issued on CD by Chaos Records in May, and now I’m reviewing the vinyl/CD issues from BlackSeed Productions specifically.

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