Morgoth Bio

MORGOTH was one of the earliest and most important German Death Metal bands. In 1987 four young kids from Meschede, Marc Grewe (vocals, bass), Carsten Otterbach (guitar), Harry Busse (guitar) and Rüdiger Hennecke (drums), came together in brilliant blasphemy to form this musically trailblazing band. By the end of 1987 they recorded their first opus, the now legendary Pits Of Utumno demo, which made its way to Robert Kampf's newly founded Century Media Records in nearby Dortmund. MORGOTH signed a deal with Century Media and their second demo, Resurrection Absurd, was pressed onto vinyl in 1989. After that the band was unstoppable. Having only performed several local underground shows, in early 1990 they took Europe by storm on their debut tour with Pestilence and Autopsy. The next release was mixed at the ultimate Death Metal temple, Tampa, Florida's renowned Morrisound Studios where acts like Death, Morbid Angel and Obituary had recorded their classic masterpieces. However, the band was offered a European tour with Obituary and Demolition Hammer, and they only had enough time to record 5 songs for the Eternal Fall EP, which became a milestone of the genre.
That same year, to satisfy MORGOTH's fast growing fanbase, both EP's were put together on one CD. By the end of the year new member Sebastian Swart took over bass duties, leaving Marc to concentrate solely on vocals. Cursed, the band's first regular full-length studio album was released the following year, introducing fans of extreme Death Metal to a darker undertone and advanced songwriting. The release was followed by MORGOTH's first US tour with Kreator and Biohazard in 1991.
The early 90's were the highpoint of the Death Metal movement and MORGOTH was the leading German band, but MORGOTH was never a band that stuck with the same image or sound. The next album, Odium, was influenced by some industrial grooves and saw their most aggressive guitar sound yet. Again they played all of the major European festivals and hit the road with the likes of Paradise Lost, Unleashed, Tiamat and more.
MORGOTH's last album came out in 1996 and here the band continued to follow their own path, intertwining industrial and dark 80's influences. The outcome was their most ambitious album ever, Feel Sorry For The Fanatic. Tracks like "Last Laugh" highlighted their flawless heavy groove-oriented songwriting. Unfortunately the band's old Death Metal fans didn't follow their innovative musical discoveries, and MORGOTH broke up at the height of their creativity, never taking a step backward. After MORGOTH split in 1997 Marc Grewe and Sebastian Swart moved to Berlin where they founded their new (and still existing) project ActionJackson. The rest of the band stopped their active music career.
Century Media is proud to offer now a career anthology. The double CD set "1987 - 1997 The Best Of Morgoth" will be released on January 24th, 2005. CD1 will contain 15 songs from all their official releases. CD2 starts with the 6-song "Pits Of Utumno" demo (never released before on CD), three rare tracks and a multimedia enhancement featuring all four promo videos and two rare live tracks from 1993. On top you'll get a 20-page booklet with a detailed history from vocalist Marc Grewe, all lyrics from CD1 and lots of photos, backstage passes, flyers and more.