Debut album, “Rites And Curses”, out on October 13th!
MORAX from Bergen in western Norway is the brainchild of one Remi Andre Nygård, who is handling all the instruments and writes all the songs. He has been playing in various bands and projects for quite some time. The most important one being the thrash metal band Inculter, which has been active the previous ten years or so, and still is. The mini-album »Rites And Curses« on High Roller Records is MORAX’ first release.
“I’ve been a huge fan of heavy metal for many years,” explains Remi, “especially the more evil side of heavy metal. That is something I felt that the genre needed a lot more of. So over the years I’ve been coming up with some riffs, melodies or whole songs that I’ve been messing around with for myself. That’s why, in early 2022 when I rediscovered the song ‘6669’ by Coven, it lighted a spark. Very spontaneously, I decided that I had to do something about these ideas I had in mind.”
For the time being MORAX is just a studio project but who knows, maybe one day it will develop into a full blown live performing band.
Listening to »Rites And Curses« carefully, the name In Solitude springs up in my mind, which to Remi is not that far from the truth: “In Solitude has definitely been an inspiration. They were one of the best bands around, sadly I missed the chance to see them live before they disbanded.”
And Mercyful Fate might have been an inspiration as well. “Yeah, surely,” confirms the multi-instrumentalist. “Mercyful Fate is one of my absolute favorite bands. I think they are the biggest influence when it comes to MORAX. Especially their guitarwork. I’m sure some people could pinpoint some MORAX riffs directly inspired by Mercyful Fate. I try to find my own sound, but sometimes it’s hard when the best riffs are already taken, dammit!”
With »Rites And Curses« soon to be unleashed, Remi Andre Nygård is already working on the material for a full-length album which will hopefully see the light of day in the not too distant future.
