Morbikon – Lost Within the Astral Crypts

Morbikon – Lost Within the Astral Crypts
Release Date: 21st November 2025
Label: Tankcrimes
Bandcamp
Genre: Blackened Thrash, Blackened Death Metal.
FFO: Dissection, Necrophobic, Nifelheim, Sacramentum.
Review By: Aeons Burning

Morbikon emerged in 2022 out of nowhere with their debut Ov Mournful Twilight, and it was a solid album of classic melodic black metal worship filtered through a thrashy lens. I confess that I haven’t come back to it as much as I probably should have, but it was a pleasant surprise to see that not only are they still around, but they have their sophomore album coming up: Lost Within the Astral Crypts. This also brings us to the age-old question: does Morbikon fall victim to the dreaded Sophomore Slump? Thankfully, that’s not the case, as Lost Within the Astral Crypts continues their solid sound established on their debut record.

If you like Dissection or Necrophobic – and who doesn’t, honestly – you’ll find Lost Within the Astral Crypts a nice, hefty portion of comfort-food metal, because that’s exactly what this is. Lost Within the Astral Crypts is also a good bit darker than Ov Mournful Twilight, but still has the infectious, fun riffs that people look for in this kind of music. Sworn to Their Beheaded King is a good example of the more melancholic side of Morbikon’s songwriting, injecting a beautiful lead after the solo. Everyone involved kills it on this record, with notable highlights being the drum performance by Pierce Williams (Aenigmatum) and the dual vocal assault by Quotidius and Mathias Lillmåns (Finntroll, …and Oceans). I love the crisp production here, as it makes everything sound clear and present. It’s hard to pick one standout track, as they’re all quite solid. Ironically, that brings me to my slight issue with Lost Within the Astral Crypts.

I have reviewed quite a bit of this kind of classic meloblack worship since joining this site, and while none of it has been bad, this included, none of it has really stood out to me from everything else. Like so many other albums this year, Lost Within the Astral Crypts is solid. I enjoy this. However, it doesn’t wow me. I’ll definitely come back to this, because it’s a fun record and Morbikon are a fun band, but I want that extra wow factor when it comes to this style of metal. I believe Morbikon has it in them to pull out all the stops on album three, but in the meantime I’ll continue to enjoy what they have now, even if it doesn’t give me that x-factor I’m looking for.

(3.5 / 5)