Premiere: Death Metallers Moral Collapse’s Incisive ‘Your Stillborn Be Praised’

The release of their gnashing, avant-garde informed death metal album in April brought Moral Collapse much acclaim and fan following, helped by the involvement of German drummer-producer Hannes Grossmann.

Founded by Bengaluru-based guitarist, bassist and vocalist-producer Arun Natarajan (with guitarist Sudarshan Mankad), Moral Collapse’s self-titled album ticked all the boxes for old-school brutality as well as intensely crafted jazz fusion and ambient elements. They recently earned a grant of €2,400 after winning a virtual residency program from the Goethe-Institut. Natarajan says with a laugh, “I never knew the Germans will fund a death metal effort in the name of culture. That takes us by surprise.” They were turned on to apply for the grant via prior collaborator, multi-instrumentalist Julius Gabriel.

The release of the self-titled album also reinstated Natarajan’s faith in physical merchandize as well as digital listenership, something that he hadn’t exactly experienced with projects like prog-death metallers Eccentric Pendulum. “Without the support of fans, the release [Moral Collapse] would have had a slow death,” Natarajan, who runs his own label Subcontinental Records, says.

While they’ve dropped playthrough video of “Your Stillborn Be Praised” from the album, work on a new Moral Collapse EP is underway. Natarajan says that they’re calling back “known devils” from their album to collaborate on new material, including violinist Mia Zabelka, Gabriel on saxophone, guitarist Sandesh Nagaraj and American guitarist Bobby Koelble. Three tracks are in the works with an April 2022 release on the cards. “This EP will be slightly more on the experimental side coupled with some modern death metal from the early 2000s, unlike the previous one which was inspired by the Nineties old-school death metal scene,” Natarajan says.

Watch the playthrough video for “Your Stillborn Be Praised” below.