Morgue Interview (Max Lobier)

“Artgore” (2001) and “The Process to Define the Shape of Self-Loathing” (2002) were albums by the French Morgue that still move me a lot to this day; after that, I found out that the band ended its operations a few years later and the wait for a third album was made until 2016 with “Doors of No Return”. But that American grindcore and hard Death Metal idea of their first album stopped being their main influence, and the band began to explore the sound of their second album, with more raw, dirty details and always with the brutal doses of 2001. Then Within this environment of growth and a complete change of ideas, they have their fourth album "Lowest Depths of Misery" after 6 years of an album that left a low taste in the mouth and with many details to polish. For this reason, Metallerium interviewed Max Lobier, the band's guitarist since its inception.

Para leer la entrevista en español: Entrevista a Morgue

Metallerium: Welcome to Metallerium Website, Max. First of all, thanks a lot for the time to answer our questions, we really appreciate it! So, let us start by asking, how have you been? How is the band Morgue?

Morgue: The band is doing fine, thanks. We have had up and downs for a few years but now it seems everything is turning out pretty well. We just released what we think is our best record to date and we have finished writing all the material for the next album. Things seem to flow somewhat easily these days. So far, the new album gets great reviews so all is fine.

Metallerium: You released “Lowest Depths of Misery” on October 14th. When did you begin to work on this new album? Why did it take around 6 years to release a new record?

Morgue: We started thinking about doing this record in 2017. ‘Lowest depths of misery’ is what ‘doors of no return’ should have been. As you said, we took 6 years, because we had to start over by ourselves.

Back in 2017, our latest record to date was ‘doors of no return’; which we disliked. This was the last record to feature our former drummer who failed his tracks completely. When this actual band member left the band in 2016 we (the remaining members) started to open our eyes to him musically speaking, without the veil of ‘friendship’.

We rapidly said to ourselves we needed to record again ‘doors of no return because we were ashamed of the original version.

At first, we tried to find a new drummer, but after a few unsuccessful attempts, we decided to delay the project. At this time, I had picked up the drums again and after several years of work, I was able to do the drum tracks by myself without the help of anyone.

We were ready to record ‘Lowest depths of misery’ in mid-2021; at the same time, we recorded the album ‘Descent into madness’ with our other band Corrupter (which was also released by Godz ov war Productions).

Metallerium: There is an evolution in your sound compared to what we listened to in albums like “Artgore” (2001). Where did your inspiration come from in terms of sound and lyrics for this new album?

Morgue: Yes obviously there is an evolution. Artgore was recorded in 1999, I was 22 years old at this time. As time goes you inevitably incorporate more and more different influences, so obviously your approach changes a bit. After Artgore was released (in 2001) we started to get away from the gore stuff. Was it for the best or the worst, I don’t know. It felt like a necessity. We always followed our instinct. Anyway, what makes the new album so different is the voice and the fact that Meyhnach (Mutiilation) performs guest vocals as well. This alone changes the overall tone of the record I think.

Metallerium: In addition, how was the process of composition and recording compared to your first álbum?

Morgue: Mellower, more thought-out. More time, fewer band members so fewer potential problems. We are now two members in Morgue, we have been playing together for so long that we know each other very well and we usually don’t lose time with bullshits.

Metallerium: What are the strengths of this new album compared to the previous albums?

Morgue: A whole new level of musicianship, better sound, better everything. It is the first time we are 100% proud of an album our ours. Drums are so important in this genre that consequently there is no comparison between the new album and all the previous ones…

I finally started to enjoy ‘Artgore’ & ‘Bonecrunch’ lately since I remastered them and worked on a few details that I did not like from day one, but I the rest of our discography I actually don’t listen to. ‘The process to define the shape of self-loathing’ is OK, mainly because of its raw and abrasive sound. But again, it would have been much greater if we had a better drummer back then.

Metallerium: I really like the artwork for the cover. What can you tell us about it? How did you choose the cover?

Morgue: the cover was a special request from us to Paolo Girardi. We have been big fans of his work for years. It is an oil painting, as Paolo Girardi doesn’t do any digital art. The more I look at this cover the more I love it. Every single detail is particularly amazing.

Metallerium: About the previous question, something interesting nowadays is how Artificial Intelligence is now available for more and more people. We can send a description and the A.I will deliver a picture of what we describe with stunning results! Do you think that this will be used to design covers for Metal albums in the near future?

Morgue: I am pretty sure this will happen. As you said, A.I. is there and its purposes are growing up every day. Nothing can replace the imperfections of the human hand & mind. Hopefully, we will stick with this way of working for a long time.

Metallerium: I noticed that you released all your albums with different labels. For this new album, you are working with Godz ov War Productions. Is there any particular reason for this change of title? How did you contact Godz ov War Productions and how do you feel about working with them?

Morgue: We have had a hard time after releasing the ‘doors of no return’ record, we were almost dead and without a label for years… After recording ‘Lowest depths of misery,’ we asked a few labels if they could be interested in releasing it. Godz ov war was the most serious of all and the most straightforward in our opinion. Also, they are a respected underground label and have a strong image. Last they are from eastern Europe and this was better than having a label from our own country, in our opinion.

You are right, each record we made was on a different label & I won’t talk about some of them because some were just plain rip-offs; so let them rot. We will remain on Godz ov war’s roster for the next album.

Metallerium: What are your plans after releasing the new album? Are you planning to do something special for your 25 years as a band?

Morgue: Yes the band is 25 years old, but we don’t feel like celebrating anything. Our plans for the short future are to go to the studio and record a new album. It is going to be lots of work as I will again record the drums alongside the guitar & vocals, but it is for the better.

We don’t want to play live anymore, we spent too much time playing unworthy shows a few years ago so we said we could not do this anymore. But who knows what the future can bring anyways… I finally learned never to say never.

Metallerium: Talking about other topics. How do you see the extreme Metal scene in your country and worldwide after all these problems and uncertainty?

Morgue: The scene is doing very well I suppose. In France and worldwide. I think death metal was never as popular as it is today. Even though the global prices of records & merch are insane these days. As a result of this global uncertainty, people seem to turn more and more to extreme music.

Metallerium: I saw that you are releasing the last album on tape and we are living in times when bands sell more vinyl than CDs. What is your perspective about this and your favorite format? Because according to science, the CD is the best format in terms of sound for example.

Morgue: For five or six years, cassette tapes have made a tremendous return; even skeptical people are now buying this format in a big way. I love all formats, I never stopped buying them. OK in the 90s I was all about CDs but I was still buying or trading demos cassettes (which I still have for the most part). Also, I remember 10-15 years ago, I was constantly trying to buy classic death metal albums on cassette thru eBay, mainly in Poland. At this time an original cassette version for Death “Human” for example was about 4 or 5eu on eBay. Now the exact same cassette is 10 times the price & 10 years older… that’s the way it goes.

It seems that CDs are not the trend anymore today, but they will come back. Again, I never stopped buying CDs and I agree with the fact this format sounds the most of the time the best.

But to be honest I like the warmth of an analogic tape.

Best example? One of my all-time classics is the demo “Severe Carnal Butchery” from the band Sepsism. I have it both on original tape (1994) and on CD (reissue), I like the sound of the tape much more; more organic, more dynamic, warmer-sounding, better bass response…

Metallerium: Also, what do you think about the digital platforms and the way people consume music too fast focusing more on singles than complete albums?

Morgue: that’s the way people consume nowadays. Take it and throw it. I don’t like that too much, I was not raised like that. Digital platforms are OK and I always use them to discover music. But kind of every day I end up placing orders (s) for CDs, tapes, or vinyl.

Metallerium: Before we finish. Is there anything you want to say to your fans in Latin America and Metallerium readers?

Morgue: thanks a lot; I think the death and black metal freaks in Latin America are much more committed and serious about it; so horns up. Check our album out & feel free to get in touch.

Metallerium: Again, thanks a lot for your time, Max, and congratulations on the new album! We hope to see you touring around this part of the world in the near future!

Morgue: that would be great, if one day we go back to playing live, obviously we would love to come by.

Thanks so much, Javier for the support, keep it brutal,

Check this :

https://morguecult.bandcamp.com/album/lowest-depths-of-misery

https://corrupter.bandcamp.com/album/descent-into-madness

C-ya