Morrah

MORRAH story: MORRAH* was formed in December 2000 by a bunch of amateur musicians, who had little faith in it, but their enthusiasm, together with some experience, was a good start. The first year was futile, as practices were rare and some band members were slack (hence the repeated line-up changes). Still, MORRAH managed to record one of their songs. Short of original material, they had to mix it with various covers (PARADISE LOST, KISS, SIX FEET UNDER, DIAMOND HEAD). The band had not yet developed their own style, swaying from melodic death to brutal death.

MORRAH* was formed in December 2000 by a bunch of amateur musicians, who had little faith in it, but their enthusiasm, together with some experience, was a good start. The first year was futile, as practices were rare and some band members were slack (hence the repeated line-up changes). Still, MORRAH managed to record one of their songs. Short of original material, they had to mix it with various covers (PARADISE LOST, KISS, SIX FEET UNDER, DIAMOND HEAD). The band had not yet developed their own style, swaying from melodic death to brutal death.

Nevertheless, in the spring 2002 MORRAH enters the stage for the first time. Although it was a small obscure club, the student crowd appreciated the performance, firing the band with enthusiasm. As the soap opera unfolded, they spotted Deada, the ex-guitarist of Corpsegrinder/Exhumation, who was hanging around. Together they made a decision to move towards brutal death. Having written some new songs, the band once again hit the stage in the autumn 2002 (Many thanks to Andrey Lerman and Friday club).

2003 saw the growing number of gigs and the first tour outside St.Petersburg - to Moscow. The next studio session was an unsuccessful attempt to record in album (a long and sad story), only resulting in a self-released promo disc.

In May 2004, the band had to replace guitarist Lev Torba with Ilya Vladimirovich Kotelnikov. In summer, MORRAH entered Neva Studio, St.Petersburg to record their debut album, "Experiment In Blood". The mixing was entrusted to Navaho Hut Records, Moscow.

It was still combined with regular gigging in the home city and outside.

Unfortunately, because of long negotiations with record labels the release was not made until the autumn 2005, on More Hate Prod./Metalism Records. After presenting the CD in St.Petersburg, MORRAH embarked on a tour of the CIS countries.

Today, MORRAH is a great, ever-evolving band, justly considered one of the best heavy bands in St.Petersburgs. They gave some fifty local concerts, made a few tours (Moscow, Ivanovo, Nizhny Novgorod, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova), supported world stars (VADER, PUNGENT STENCH, BEHEMOTH, IMPALED NAZARENE, ROTTING CHRIST), did many hours of studio work, and above all, earned the respect of colleagues onstage and heavy music fans.

* - The word "MORRAH" is a coinage sounding like the Swedish name of the worst character of Tove Jansson's Moomintroll books (The Groke).


Line-up:
Alexander Dovzhikov vocals
Alexander Aleksanichev guitars
Alexander Mokhov guitars
Michael Karavanov bass
Dmitry Varlamov drums



Ex-members:
Ilya Kotelnikov guitars
Lev 'MFHobbit' Torba (2000-2004) guitar
Vadim Ryabinin (2001-2002) bass, guitar