Morgul
Encyclopedia
Morgul is a Norwegian black metal
band formed in Råde
, Norway
in the year 1991.
The band at this time consisted solely of Hex, on drums and main-man Jack D. Ripper on guitars, bass, keyboard and vocals. Together they released two albums: Lost In Shadows Grey & Parody Of The Mass. Parody Of The Mass being recorded at Abyss Studios in Sweden by Mikael Hedlund from Hypocrisy, especially created interest for Morgul within the underground and soon the media mentioned them to be THE hidden treasure within the black metal scene.
In the year of 1999 Morgul signed to Century Media Records and started working on new material that saw the band breaking the boundaries of a somewhat over-crowded black metal genre and came up with a more varied and personal sound. This album also marked a change in producer and studio. Every album including and following The Horror Grandeur has been produced by Terje Refsnes at Soundsuite Studios in the south of France. It's also of interest that prior to the recording of The Horror Grandeur, Hex and Jack D. Ripper parted ways musically for personal reasons, leaving Jack D. Ripper sole responsible persons for Morgul. The only guest musician on The Horror is Pete Johansen
(The Scarr, Sins of Thy Beloved, Sirenia, Tristania
) an amazingly talented violinist from Western Norway.
2001 Morgul enters the studio once again to record Sketch of Supposed Murderer. This would be Morguls last album under the label Century Media.
April 2002 Jack D. Ripper entered Soundsuite Studio to record the entirety of vocals for Swiss band Meridian on their 1st album "The Seventh Sun". Earlier in the year Meridian had won Metallians demo contest, which eventually led to a record deal with Season of Mist.
2004. After much hesitation and thoughts of leaving the music scene all together Morguls front man re-enters Soundsuite and self finances "All Dead Here". Once again this album features Pete Johansen on violins. 1 year later the album is released on the label Season Of Mist.
Jack D. Ripper is now residing in the United States, where he is working on his next album. It is unknown where the next album will be recorded or on which label.
story Morgul is the Sindarin elvish word for "black wraith". It is likely intended as the name for the Witch-king of Angmar, the leader of the Nazgûl. The blade that he used on Weathertop was called a Morgul-blade, and the name of his stronghold was Minas Morgul (Tower of the Black Wraith).
Black metal
Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure....
band formed in Råde
Råde
Råde is a municipality in Østfold county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Karlshus. The parish of Raade was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 ....
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
in the year 1991.
Biography
In 1991 Morgul soon recorded two demo-tapes: Vargvinter & In Gowns Flowing Wide, which were spread through the underground. Eventually this managed to garner them a deal with Napalm Records.The band at this time consisted solely of Hex, on drums and main-man Jack D. Ripper on guitars, bass, keyboard and vocals. Together they released two albums: Lost In Shadows Grey & Parody Of The Mass. Parody Of The Mass being recorded at Abyss Studios in Sweden by Mikael Hedlund from Hypocrisy, especially created interest for Morgul within the underground and soon the media mentioned them to be THE hidden treasure within the black metal scene.
In the year of 1999 Morgul signed to Century Media Records and started working on new material that saw the band breaking the boundaries of a somewhat over-crowded black metal genre and came up with a more varied and personal sound. This album also marked a change in producer and studio. Every album including and following The Horror Grandeur has been produced by Terje Refsnes at Soundsuite Studios in the south of France. It's also of interest that prior to the recording of The Horror Grandeur, Hex and Jack D. Ripper parted ways musically for personal reasons, leaving Jack D. Ripper sole responsible persons for Morgul. The only guest musician on The Horror is Pete Johansen
Pete Johansen
Pete Johansen is a Norwegian violinist born 11 May 1962, recognized for his many recordings in albums by gothic metal bands, in which he is distinguished for his peculiar style. The Scarr is his latest known project....
(The Scarr, Sins of Thy Beloved, Sirenia, Tristania
Tristania
Tristania is a monotypic genus, native to New South Wales, Australia, closely related to Cistemon. The genus had a number of species, but some have been reclassified as Lophostemon and Tristaniopsis....
) an amazingly talented violinist from Western Norway.
2001 Morgul enters the studio once again to record Sketch of Supposed Murderer. This would be Morguls last album under the label Century Media.
April 2002 Jack D. Ripper entered Soundsuite Studio to record the entirety of vocals for Swiss band Meridian on their 1st album "The Seventh Sun". Earlier in the year Meridian had won Metallians demo contest, which eventually led to a record deal with Season of Mist.
2004. After much hesitation and thoughts of leaving the music scene all together Morguls front man re-enters Soundsuite and self finances "All Dead Here". Once again this album features Pete Johansen on violins. 1 year later the album is released on the label Season Of Mist.
Jack D. Ripper is now residing in the United States, where he is working on his next album. It is unknown where the next album will be recorded or on which label.
Studio releases
- Lost In Shadows Grey - (1997)
- Parody Of The Mass - (1998)
- The Horror Grandeur - (2000)
- Sketch Of Supposed MurdererSketch of Supposed MurdererSketch of Supposed Murderer is the fourth album recorded by Morgul. It was released through Century Media Records in 2001.-Track listing:# Violent Perfect Illusions # The Dog and the Master # Dead for a While # Machine...
- (2001) - All Dead Here...All Dead Here...All Dead Here... is the fifth studio album by Norwegian black metal band Morgul. It was released through Season of Mist on 18 April 2005.-Track listing:# Intro # The Mask of Sanity # The Need To Kill # All Dead Here...
- (2005)
Current members
- Jack D. Ripper - Vocals, Guitar,Bass, Keyboard, Drum programming, Arrangements (1991)
Session Members
- Pete JohansenPete JohansenPete Johansen is a Norwegian violinist born 11 May 1962, recognized for his many recordings in albums by gothic metal bands, in which he is distinguished for his peculiar style. The Scarr is his latest known project....
- Violins (The Scarr, The Sins Of Thy BelovedThe Sins of Thy BelovedThe Sins Of Thy Beloved is a gothic-doom metal band from Bryne, Norway.- Biography :The band was formed in November 1996 by Glenn Morten Nordbø, Arild Christensen and Stig Johansen. The band was initially called "Purgatory" but they soon decided to change their name to something less common...
, TristaniaTristania (band)Tristania is a band from Norway, formed in 1996 by Morten Veland, Einar Moen and Kenneth Olsson. Tristania's music is usually classified as symphonic gothic metal with doom/death metal influences , due to its strong ties with the goth metal's history...
, SireniaSirenia (band)Sirenia is a gothic metal band from Stavanger, Norway which incorporates a mixture of gothic metal and symphonic metal, as well as extreme metal and death metal elements...
)
Name
In The Lord of the RingsThe Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
story Morgul is the Sindarin elvish word for "black wraith". It is likely intended as the name for the Witch-king of Angmar, the leader of the Nazgûl. The blade that he used on Weathertop was called a Morgul-blade, and the name of his stronghold was Minas Morgul (Tower of the Black Wraith).
Morgul at online databases
- Morgul at Encyclopaedia MetallumEncyclopaedia MetallumEncyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives is a website which lists bands from various forms of heavy metal music...