Review: Morcolac – Drawbridge to Citadel of No More Dawn (EP)

Review by Jeger

Morcolac – Drawbridge to Citadel of No More Dawn (EP)

Record Label: Dusktone

Year: 2024

Rating: 8.5/10

Morcolac is a Black Metal power trio out of Italy with one Sadomaster as the vision leader and main songwriter. The band formed in 2021 and has since released a couple of LPs 2021’s “A Vampiir Is Born” and 2022’s “Vrykolakas”, much to enthusiastic and critical acclaim. Their style is a melding together of Finnish and of course Italian influences: the melodicism and imagination of Azaghal but packaged in a very Abhor kind of cinematic ambiance and exuding all the Vampyric sinister of one particular project to which I’ve taken a shine – modern day masters of the Vampyric arts – Germany and Finland’s Order of Nosferat. Upon the edge of where one year meets the next, this month, Morcolac will release their third offering, “Drawbridge to Citadel of No More Dawn” via Dusktone.

Through ancient catacombs we venture now; torchlit and with the threat of Vampyric wrath lurking beyond every corner. Instinct is our only guidance, enchantment befalling us on this most mystifying eve. Classicism beyond the norm and heartwarming to the core as “Dungeon Dustears” plays out like the swansong to something once so meaningful, now but a memory. The bittersweetness of it all is truly something to behold. There’s a level of genuineness to this record that can only be attributed to passion and a natural understanding of the dark arts. The Vampyric tones are so organic and the essence of such an alluring yet ultimately sorrowful state of existence is captured so eloquently.

Sadomaster from Morcolac

“Drawbridge to Citadel of No More Dawn” – an EP that plays out like a full-length with all things epic and fantastical intertwining into a fully loaded Black Metal experience. But it’s in the way that the somber arrangements tug at your heartstrings and it’s in the way that each melodic passage warms your ice-cold veins that this piece shines; like a soft radiance from the core of a once-thriving but now bitterly yearning soul. Morcolac takes on the challenge of covering Satanic Warmaster’s “The Chant of the Barbarian Wolves” and not only do they properly homage to one of the greats here but they also cast this great track in all those welcoming, almost parlor-esque Vampyric shades; a different kind of sinister that creeps into the orifices of every brilliantly epic composition. A sense of renewal now having experienced existence through the soul of the Vampire. And what a great record. What an astute understanding of Black Metal: the tonality, the atmosphere and the brilliant converging of both dismal and rousing soundscapes.

Within the immortal shell of the Vampire, there creep the memories of another life, the agony of regret and the mourning of living experiences. I feel like this record encapsulates all that while simultaneously creating a very fantasy-driven vibe for the taker. The curse of the Vampire brought to life! Prepare now for a sojourn among the weary-hearted immortal and an adventure into the great citadel. True Vampyric Black Metal and about as comprehensive as EP’s get.