| Morphia was a Dutch doom/atmospheric metal band from the Apeldoorn area.
The group was formed in 1995 and disbanded in 2008. To mark the end of the band, Morphia
played a farewell show at the Brainstorm Festival that was recorded for this DVD/CD. And
it's a worthy goodbye. The performance features the following songs: Fading Beauty, Again,
Memories Never Die (with guest violin player Esther Wertwijn), Frozen Dust, This Black
Veil (a new track), Emptiness (with former members bassist Erik van Tulder and
guitarist/band founder Roger Koedoot), When Silence Fell & Ithinielle. You can always
discuss why the band choose this selection. Though I personally regret the omission of The
Sun, this song list represents the band well: From the heavier doom/death songs to the
lighter atmospheric stuff. And Morphia was a well-oiled machine at Brainstorm, playing
convincingly. The highlight of the concert is probably Emptiness, as the former members
join and you can see the joy of playing together written on their faces. This is
excellent stuff. The video recording is almost superb. The footage is sharp and clear.
With several camera's, all the band members are captured on the screen, while the camera
people themselves seldomly come into view. A few longer shots of the audience would have
been nice though. The sound is great. The only real drawback of this release, are the tiny
letters on the back cover. You'll get pain in your eyes reading them!
The DVD has four extra's for further enjoyment. First of all a documentary about the
history of the band. Well, documentary is not the right word for a collage of video
material that displays in chronological order the important moments of the band: The
recording of the three albums and the Fear Dark Festival Tour. Watching this collage
almost makes you want you were in the band! The second extra is a home video recording of
Meaning Of Forever 2, with Roger Koedoot playing acoustic guitar, and the brothers Erik
and Peter van Tulder singing, while Esther Wertwijn plays violin. The third bonus is a
song Morphia played at the Brainstorm Festival during their soundcheck, called Long Lost.
And finally the DVD shows a great many snapshots from the band through the years, in the
meantime playing several studio album songs.
Fortunately, this release also contains the live music on CD. While you may want to
watch the DVD once in a while, the CD is something you will put in your CD-player more
often. It's the same concert as on the DVD, but unnecessary pauzes and remarks were cut
out. It's a pity the band decided to quit, but at least Morphia left this landmark that
will help you keep them alive in your memories. |
