In 1989, Morgoth recorded their second demo "Resurrection Absurd" in a twenty-four-track studio, which was released by Century Media in the same year as an EP. The band then toured Germany in support of Pestilence and Autopsy. "The Eternal Fall" was recorded shortly after the tour finished, which was quickly followed by a second tour with Demolition Hammer and Obituary. Grewe stopped playing bass and Sebastian Swart joined as the bass player.
In February 1991, the first actual full-length album was recorded in the Woodhouse studios, titled Cursed. To promote the album the band supported Kreator and Biohazard on a US tour and another European tour with Immolation and Massacre. Most of the band then relocated to Dortmund. Morgoth took a break then and only to return in 1993 with the album Odium. More touring followed, with Tankard, Unleashed and Tiamat. Nevertheless most of the band members started to lose interest in an active music career and ventured in other directions.
Eventually a third album was recorded, Feel Sorry for the Fanatic, on which they incorporated more and more industrial influences. A tour followed the release of the album, with Die Krupps and Richthofen. The band broke up in 1998.
Today they are deemed as one of the most influential bands to the German old school death metal scene. They reunited in 2010.
Némesis
Morgoth Lyrics
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Past the wan-mooned abysses of night,
I have lived o'er my lives without number,
I have sounded all things with my sight;
And I struggle and shriek ere the daybreak, being driven to madness with fright.
I have whirled with the earth at the dawning,
When the sky was a vaporous flame;
Where the black planets roll without aim,
Where they roll in their horror unheeded, without knowledge or lustre or name.
I had drifted o'er seas without ending,
Under sinister grey-clouded skies,
That the many-forked lightning is rending,
That resound with hysterical cries;
With the moans of invisible daemons, that out of the green waters rise.
I have plunged like a deer through the arches
Of the hoary primordial grove,
Where the oaks feel the presence that marches,
And stalks on where no spirit dares rove,
And I flee from a thing that surrounds me, and leers through dead branches above.
I have stumbled by cave-ridden mountains
That rise barren and bleak from the plain,
I have drunk of the fog-foetid fountains
That ooze down to the marsh and the main;
And in hot cursed tarns I have seen things, I care not to gaze on again.
I have scanned the vast ivy-clad palace,
I have trod its untenanted hall,
Where the moon rising up from the valleys
Shows the tapestried things on the wall;
Strange figures discordantly woven, that I cannot endure to recall.
I have peered from the casements in wonder
At the mouldering meadows around,
At the many-roofed village laid under
The curse of a grave-girdled ground;
And from rows of white urn-carven marble, I listen intently for sound.
I have haunted the tombs of the ages,
I have flown on the pinions of fear,
Where the smoke-belching Erebus rages;
Where the jokulls loom snow-clad and drear:
And in realms where the sun of the desert consumes what it never can cheer.
I was old when the pharaohs first mounted
The jewel-decked throne by the Nile;
I was old in those epochs uncounted
When I, and I only, was vile;
And Man, yet untainted and happy, dwelt in bliss on the far Arctic isle.
Oh, great was the sin of my spirit,
And great is the reach of its doom;
Not the pity of Heaven can cheer it,
Nor can respite be found in the tomb:
Down the infinite aeons come beating the wings of unmerciful gloom.
Through the ghoul-guarded gateways of slumber,
Past the wan-mooned abysses of night,
I have lived o'er my lives without number,
I have sounded all things with my sight;
And I struggle and shriek ere the daybreak, being driven to madness with fright.
The lyrics of Morgoth’s ‘Nemesis’ describe the singer’s experience of living through countless lives while being haunted by nightmares and terror. In the beginning, the singer describes passing through the gates of sleep and experiencing a limitless amount of lives, with the constant terror driving him to madness. He describes traveling through space and time, witnessing unimaginable horrors and grotesque creatures, including demons and invisible creatures rising from the green water's depths.
The singer describes feeling a sense of dread everywhere he goes, with every step he takes inducing fear, making it clear that he is beyond redemption. He describes his existence as a perpetual nightmare and being tormented by memories of unspeakable horrors. The only constant is the endless cycle of terror, driving him towards insanity with no respite, not even in death.
Overall, the song portrays a bleak and hopeless existence filled with horror and terror. The lyrics are heavy and descriptive in its portrayal of the singer's experience, offering a glimpse of a world beyond imagination.
Line by Line Meaning
Through the ghoul-guarded gateways of slumber,
I have traveled through terrifying realms of dreams, guarded by the undead.
Past the wan-mooned abysses of night,
I have journeyed through the dark emptiness of the night sky, lit by the pale light of the moon.
I have lived o'er my lives without number,
I have experienced countless lives, replaying them over and over again.
I have sounded all things with my sight;
I have examined everything, using only my vision.
And I struggle and shriek ere the daybreak, being driven to madness with fright.
I am filled with terror and madness as the dawn approaches.
I have whirled with the earth at the dawning,
I have spun along with the planet as it begins a new day.
When the sky was a vaporous flame;
As the day began, the sky was filled with hazy, fiery colors.
I have seen the dark universe yawning
I have witnessed the vast darkness of the universe, stretching out endlessly before me.
Where the black planets roll without aim,
Planets move aimlessly through the void of space, careening without direction.
Where they roll in their horror unheeded, without knowledge or lustre or name.
These planets roll without any significance, having no knowledge or beauty, and without even a name.
I had drifted o'er seas without ending,
I have sailed across endless oceans, never reaching a final destination.
Under sinister grey-clouded skies,
I have sailed through skies filled with ominous, grey clouds.
That the many-forked lightning is rending,
Lightning splits the sky into countless forks, tearing it apart.
That resound with hysterical cries;
The air is filled with the sounds of hysterical, manic howls.
With the moans of invisible daemons, that out of the green waters rise.
Invisible demons rise up out of the green waters, moaning in anguish and torment.
I have plunged like a deer through the arches
I have run through ancient archways like a frightened animal.
Of the hoary primordial grove,
The grove is ancient and primordial, filled with old trees and overgrown plants.
Where the oaks feel the presence that marches,
The oak trees sense a dark presence moving through the grove.
And stalks on where no spirit dares rove,
This presence moves through places where no spirit would dare to venture.
And I flee from a thing that surrounds me, and leers through dead branches above.
I run in terror from something that is all around me, staring at me through dead, twisted tree branches.
I have stumbled by cave-ridden mountains
I have walked along the base of towering mountains filled with dark, foreboding caves.
That rise barren and bleak from the plain,
These mountains loom over the surrounding plains, stark and lifeless.
I have drunk of the fog-foetid fountains
I have drunk from fountains filled with smelly, foul fog.
That ooze down to the marsh and the main;
These fountains drain down into marshlands and the open sea.
And in hot cursed tarns I have seen things, I care not to gaze on again.
I have witnessed unspeakable horrors in hot, cursed pools of water, and I never want to see them again.
I have scanned the vast ivy-clad palace,
I have surveyed a huge palace covered in thick vines.
I have trod its untenanted hall,
I have walked through the empty halls of this palace, devoid of life.
Where the moon rising up from the valleys
The moon rises over the valleys surrounding the palace.
Shows the tapestried things on the wall;
The light of the moon illuminates tapestries hanging on the walls, depicting strange and discordant images.
Strange figures discordantly woven, that I cannot endure to recall.
These tapestries depict strange and unsettling images that I cannot bear to remember.
I have peered from the casements in wonder
I have looked out of the windows in amazement.
At the mouldering meadows around,
I have seen decaying, rotting meadows stretching out in every direction.
At the many-roofed village laid under
I have seen a village with many roofs lying beneath me.
The curse of a grave-girdled ground;
This village is cursed, and surrounded by graves on all sides.
And from rows of white urn-carven marble, I listen intently for sound.
I listen carefully for any sound coming from rows of white, marble urns.
I have haunted the tombs of the ages,
I have spent time wandering through ancient tombs of the past.
I have flown on the pinions of fear,
I have soared through the skies, gripped with paralyzing fear.
Where the smoke-belching Erebus rages;
I have been to places where the underworld spews out smoke and fire.
Where the jokulls loom snow-clad and drear:
The jokulls, or glaciers, loom over the landscape, covered in snow and filled with despair.
And in realms where the sun of the desert consumes what it never can cheer.
I have been to deserts where the sun beats down relentlessly, consuming all but bringing no joy.
I was old when the pharaohs first mounted
I existed before the time of the Egyptian pharaohs.
The jewel-decked throne by the Nile;
I was already ancient when the pharaohs sat on their ornate thrones in Egypt.
I was old in those epochs uncounted
I existed in times so far in the past that they cannot be numbered or counted.
When I, and I only, was vile;
During these ancient times, I was the only one who was corrupted and evil.
And Man, yet untainted and happy, dwelt in bliss on the far Arctic isle.
During these earliest times, humans lived in an untainted state of happiness on faraway Arctic islands.
Oh, great was the sin of my spirit,
My spirit has committed terrible sins.
And great is the reach of its doom;
The consequences of my spirit's actions are far-reaching and terrible.
Not the pity of Heaven can cheer it,
Even the compassion of Heaven cannot bring comfort or relief to my spirit.
Nor can respite be found in the tomb:
Even death cannot bring an end to the torment of my spirit.
Down the infinite aeons come beating the wings of unmerciful gloom.
Through endless time, the wings of merciless misery keep beating down on me.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
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