Morpheus Descends

Although they would forever lurk in the shadows of more successful brethren such as Suffocation, Immolation, and Incantation, Middletown, NY's Morpheus Descends (initially named simply Morpheus) were also minor contributors to establishing the Empire State's peculiarly dense and Byzantine brand of '90s death metal (as compared to the dominant Floridian strain). At the very beginning, in late 1990, though, Morpheus Descends' guitarist Rob Yench, vocalist Jeff Reimer, bassist Ken Faggio, and drummer Sam Inzerra had world-conquering plans of their own, so they hastily (and, in retrospect, regrettably) partnered with independent JL Records to assemble their 1992 debut album, Ritual of Infinity, from a series of demo sessions undertaken over the previous two years. Not surprisingly, the band soon found their label sorely lacking in promotional support and endeavored to release 1994's Chronicles of the Shadowed Ones EP (featuring second guitarist Bryan Johnston and new bass player Andy Newton) themselves; a move that at least allowed them to pocket most of the cash from what copies were sold during their extensive ensuing tours with Incantation, Anal C**t, Absu, and Enslaved. But aside from growing respect within the underground death metal scene, Morpheus Descends returned home with precious little to show for all of their hard work, and had fallen hopelessly behind their onetime peers (Suffocation, in particular) by this time. So, after replacing Reimer and Johnston with vocalist/guitarist Tom Stevens (ex-Nokturne, Ripping Corpse, etc.), the group recorded 1997's The Horror of the Truth EP in a last ditch effort to turn their fortunes around — alas, all to no avail. By the following year, Stevens and Yench had begun moonlighting with the aforementioned Incantation and bassist Newton had created the pseudonym of Lord Typhus Mirinor and launched the black metal band Fog. Drummer Inzerra also resurfaced eventually, in a crossover side project named Generation Kill, featuring Pro-Pain's Rob Moschetti and Exodus' Rob Dukes, but original Morpheus Descends vocalist Jeff Reimer was less fortunate, passing away from a reported heroin overdose in August of 2005.