Eight years ago, the underground lost a unique leader when Spawn of Possession crawled into their hallowed crypt. Foul-mouthed disciples still utter the name SoP with reverence, but while others tried to crack the band’s forbidden cabinet, these accursed innovators were secretly festering in their grave, plotting to return and haunt the world of extreme metal once more.

Now, the undead masses can finally rejoice. Thanks to a healthy kick from their decrepit new drummer, Spawn of Possession has been reborn as Retromorphosis. With their debut album, this new band of freakish players emerge with the missing link in technical death metal’s evolutionary chain. The latest mutation off Psalmus Mortis is a living testament to their ungodly strength.

Listen to Retromorphosis on the Season of Mist YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/ESBZhXQZLgo

Psalmus Mortis comes out February 21 on Season of Mist.

➤ Pre-order & Pre-save: https://orcd.co/retromorphosispsalmusmortis

“Retromorphosis” upholds the heretical traditions hammered down by the band’s forefather. After all, Spawn of Possession also had a song named after them on their deviant debut. “If you’re going to have a song with the same name as your band, then it has to appear on your first album”, says Jonas Bryssling, who started Retromorphosis during the pandemic after his pick hand was once again bit by death metal’s radioactive songwriting bug.

Put under the microscope and the band’s new single does share SoP’s unreplicable DNA. Christian Muenzner zips through not one, not two, but three guitar solos, each one packed with more technically innovative twists than a triple helix. No matter which way their tales leave you tossing and turning in the dead of night, all of the songs on Psalmus Mortis spiral into madness, but on “Retromorphosis”, Dennis Röndum growls like a man freshly possessed by the devil on his massive shoulders. “I’m the one / chosen son / gifted and reborn“.

While marked by their beastly signature skills, Psalmus Mortis adds more raw edge to the mix. The album was produced by fellow Swede Magnus Sedenberg, who’s been the band’s preferred death dealer since Spawn of Possession’s first two demos. But Retromorphosis scrapes away all of the studio polish that’s become fashionable even in today’s underground. As shown by his latest bass playthrough, Erlend Casperson can groove along the same brain waves as the most high-minded shredders, but his tone on their new single reeks of the gutter.

“I prefer my death metal to sound ugly and mean”, Bryssling says with a satisfied grin.

More muscular face pounding isn’t Retromorphosis only hideous mutation. As Bryssling rips into chunky riffs with the unsavory appetite of an old-school cannibal, ex-Decrepit Birth drummer K.C. Howard beats you senseless with rabid blasts and pounding double bass. But while less techy, Psalmus Mortis does experiment with some unconventional instruments of torture. “All I hear is voice of God / it never leaves me“, Röndum declares in depraved glory, backed by sinister organ glows and a choir of angels who raise their voices as if condemned to the depths of hell.

“We had rules in Spawn of Possession”, Bryssling explains when asked what separates Retromorphosis from his earlier offspring. “Everything had to always be so intense. Retromorphosis is more free. Psalmus Mortis can be eerie, doomy or even quite simple”.

Can’t wait to hear the gloriously grotesque new album from Retromorphosis? Hear all of Psalmus Mortis during tomorrow’s Bandcamp Listening Party.

Retromorphosis Psalmus Mortis Bandcamp Listening Party

Thursday, February 6 @ 1 pm Eastern Time / 7 pm Central European Time.

Such is the sordid backstory of Retromorphosis and their debut Psalmus Mortis. In 2020, amidst the pandemic’s endless lull, one of Spawn of Possession’s founding members was again bitten by death metal’s radioactive songwriting bug. “I wanted to make an album that wasn’t tied to anything we’d done before”, says Jonas Bryssling. While this new batch of malevolent creations still stemmed from his punishingly technical fretwork, the riffs were splitting off into even more twisted headbanging directions. But to bring these relentless mutations to life, first, he needed a familiar spark.

“There was no hesitation”, Bryssling says when asked about resurrecting the creative energies with his former Spawn of Possession bandmates. Pairing back up with rock-solid vocalist Dennis Röndum and elastic bassist Erlend Casperson once again yielded promising results during the early phases of Psalmus Mortis. To further test the equation, they added another familiar but no less fearsome shredder. Before joining them for Incurso, Christian Muenzner lent his flaming left hand to two other stone-cold classics: Necrophagist’s Epitath and Cosmogenesis by Obscura. “I don’t have to tell them much”, Bryssling continues. “They know how it’s done”.

Indeed, time has only fermented this group’s mutant chemistry. After spending the summer of 2023 recording Psalmus Mortis in their underground laboratory, Retromorphosis emerged with the missing link in technical death metal’s evolutionary chain. “Vanished” officially cracks open its beaker with the satisfying crunch of the old school, steamrolling out a rugged red carpet for Röndum’s imposing growl. It was the first song Bryssling wrote during the album’s initial trial period, but the band continued to tinker with the album’s eventual lead single after the other eight tracks were hammered into gruesome shape. Muenzner’s solos scream like a poor unsuspecting soul who’s being dragged into the shadows. All the while, Casperson flogs his bass as if hiding a mischievous grin, its ghoulish bounce bringing the lyrics’ cosmic body horror into frightening focus.

“We had rules in Spawn of Possession”, Bryssling explains, as a matter of fact. “Everything always had to be so intense. Psalmus Mortis is intense, too, but it can also be eerie or even quite simple”.

Simplicity might not be Retromorphosis’ dominant chromosome. Even though it’s fueled by straight-forward, down-picked chugging, the album’s nine-minute monolith “Machine” churns through multiple tempo changes, cranking up the tension with every accelerated blast beat. But the band did opt for a leaner chemical base. Psalmus Mortis was produced by Magnus Sedenberg, who’s been the band’s Swedish engineer du jour dating back to Spawn of Possession’s first two demos. “Reuniting with Magnus felt like the natural thing to do”, says Bryssling, “but for this album, we scraped away some of the studio polish”. With its sludgy distortion and hallucinating speed, “Never to Awake” certainly summons the ’90s untamed spirit. “I prefer my death metal to sound ugly and mean”.

While roughly a decade in the making, Retromorphosis still grip it and rip it on Psalmus Mortis. Heck, chunks of the band’s first album were hung up to dry like butchered livestock after just one crack in the studio, much to their own amusement. “I don’t think there’s a single first take on the SoP albums”, Bryssling laughs. Röndum doesn’t mince words, either. He chews through syllables with all the careful consideration of a meat grinder. And while each tale descends into its own sweaty night terror, they all escalate from bad to worse. Despite its seemingly pedestrian title, “Aunt Christie’s Will” unpacks a maze-like mystery that ends with an especially morbid twist.

Of course, given this crew’s technical chops, Retromorphosis were bound to birth more head-spinning experiments. Psalmus Mortis injects fresh blood into their chilling cosmic horrors by fleshing out their technical arsenal with some unusual instruments of torture. The album opens with doomed power chords, pounding drum fills, then…spooky organ glows, tense strings and a ghostly gothic choir. “That was a new experience”, Bryssling says about adding more synthetic textures to the mix, though his inspiration came from a life-long obsession. “That sense of atmosphere was something old-school bands used to have”. The special effects aren’t just saved for its ominous opening instrumental oeuvre, either. “The Tree” puts a dystopian twist on the age-old tale of human greed with synths that glow like alien guts.

Freakier ambience isn’t the only new life form on Psalmus Mortis. “Everyone knows KC Howard is an insane talent”, Bryssling says. Howard left his brutally precise mark on the scene when he was behind the kit for Decrepit Birth, though Retromorphosis were formally introduced to their new drummer through Röndum, as the two had crossed paths during an episode of the Cali Death Podcast. Howard’s nuclear barrage of double bass kicks feeds the band’s cellular engine like jet fuel, driving high-flying album closer “Exalted Splendour” toward its blinding conclusion.

Ask Bryssling to identify what separates this new baby from their first born and the answer is, in fact, quite simple.”Retromorphosis is more free”. Put the song that bears their name under the microscope and feast your eyes on everything this band are capable of: non-stop blasting, brain-bursting bass fills, solos that would fry a supercomputer and pure unholiness. “I’m the one / chosen son / gifted and reborn”.

With Psalmus Mortis, technical death metal’s chosen ones rise from the grave.