This band doesn't really need an introduction. Most everybody knows who they are. For those who don't, they are one of the heaviest bands to come out of California, a state not known for it's doom/death scene. I was curious about a few things and Rhett Davis (drums) didn't mind sating that curiosity. --goden

Eternal Frost: What is the current line-for the band?
Rhett Davis: MORGION line-up is: Jeremy Peto - vocals/bass, Rhett Davis - drums, Dwayne Boardman - guitars, Ed Parker - keyboards, Gary Griffith - Guitars.

Morgion has had some trouble with keeping keyboardists in the past. Has a permanent one been found?
Yes, our original keyboardist has returned permanently. He will be on our next album too. He is also playing with us in a live capacity as well.

So, Ed's back. Does this mean you'll you be playing live more often now?
The only shows that we have confirmed are the Milwaukee Metal Fest and the Michigan Death Fest. We are hoping to do some local gigs but we are not really concerned about it. We are spending our time finishing the next album and at the moment that is more important!

Is Morgion still on Relapse Records? If not, What label?
Yes, our next offering will be on Relapse.

Have you begun recording the new album? Has a release date been set?
We have not begun the recording process, we are still writing it. Sorry that we take a long while but we want the next offering to be worth while, not rushed! We hope to be in the studio in April and a release date is not confirmed. That is up to Relapse.

I've read that Among Majestic Ruin is some of the band's older material. What will the new material sound like after it's recorded? Will there be any other vocal styles? I hope the guttural vocals will remain!
The Among . . . CD is material written in the time span of 1992-1994. We went through a complete change of members in the second guitar spot and added keyboards in late 1993. The line-up on the CD survived for maybe a year or so. That chemistry of a new guitarist and the addition of keyboards made that album. I'm sorry to say, but it cant be repeated. The new material is not completely different than our earlier stuff, it's just that our line-up once again is different and our newest guitarist Gary is from a more doom metal style. We do have our old keyboardist back so the keyboards will be very much the same, a classical type feel. The music we jokingly call "PINK FLOYD meets THE FIELDS OF THE NEPHILIM doing CANDLEMASS covers in a Horror movie." I think that our new material is a lot heavier but also a lot more atmospheric. We also have a more gothic feel than we've ever done, too; it's a collage of music we all love to play. It should be an album that pervious listeners should like, I hope! Jeremy has been mixing clean vocals with the growls. We are also enlisting female vocals as well. This album will be much more vocally arranged than the last one.

Where was Among majestic Ruin recorded? The production/sound is fantastic and definitely fits in with the album's title. Will you record the next album at the same place?
Thanks for the compliment, we appreciate it. It was recorded at Jim Barnes Audio productions in Santa Ana, California. We are recording our next offering with Bill Metoyer who is by far in our opinion a better engineer than Barnes. We have never been happy with the Among . . . recording. Barnes spends too much time Producing and too little time engineering. Metoyer however is an excellent engineer and we produce the album. The guitar and bass sound on Barnes's recording is not ours. We have a much heavier and dirtier sound than what's on it. Metoyer recorded our IRON MAIDEN cover song for the Dwell Records tribute to Iron Maiden and the sound was much more to our liking.

I've often seen it mentioned that Morgion's guitar sound is "European". Will that sound remain on the newer stuff, with a different engineer?
Oh, yeah! We intend to have the guitar and bass sound that we always use. Jim Barnes would not bend on the guitar and bass production that's why it is so clean and polished. We would like the guitars to have the Swedish death metal sound a la ENTOMBED Left Hand Path. And the bass sound should be really bottom-heavy which is where all the true low end ought to be. Unlike Jim Barnes and the "Hollywood glam rocker guide to metal production".

How has the Among Majestic Ruin album been selling? There has been a good deal of praise for this record.
It is released in America and the UK as a domestic. Anywhere else it's an import. As far as we've been told it's sold over 6,000 copies. Precise numbers are not known to us. We are happy that it is received well. We might be doing something right, for once.

Has it been promoted well? I've had some flyers for it pass through my mail box. (I even have a really old flyer from when the CD was to be released in Spring of 1996 and contain "over 70 minutes" of music and it showed different cover art.) Is it getting any airplay?
Yeah, the promotion has been good although Metal Maniacs doesn't seem to want us in their pages. I remember sending those flyers out back in '95 and '96 when we were still negotiating the Among . . . album with Relapse. We scrapped the idea of adding more material to that album and keeping it in it's original format. Some of the songs listed on that flyer will be on this next album. As for playing time we have got plenty on Canadian Airwaves as well as the mid-west and east coast radio. We might as well be invisible on the west coast.

Why doesn't Metal Maniacs want you in their magazine?! I don't hear any political, or other offensive views in the lyrics, so I can see any reason for it. Unless they're jealous of you guys making such good music?
I don’t really know the answer to that question. They didn't give us a review or seem at all interested in us. Oh, well, their loss.

Has a video been shot for any of Morgion's songs? Are there any plans to do a video?
No, MTV has not knocked on our doors just yet. If anyone has the money to do one, come look us up!

Do you play live often? What kind of bands do you prefer to share the stage with?
No, not usually. We prefer to play with metal bands only, but if a band is willing to share a stage with us we don't discriminate. Bands we would really like to play with but have not would be Pink Floyd, The Fields of the Nephilim, WINTER, IN THE WOODS (rule!), SOLITUDE ÆTERNUS, MERCYFUL FATE, BOLT THROWER, TROUBLE, ANATHEMA, THE BLOOD DIVINE, My DyING BRIDE, THE SISTERS OF MERCY, Candlemass, etc.

Do any of the members in Morgion participate in any other bands or have any side projects?
Yes. Jeremy and myself are part of CRIMSON RELIC,(an old-school type black/thrash metal band in the vein of CELTIC FROST and DESTRUCTION) with Greg Anderson (formerly of THORRS HAMMER) and Xanthorvaar (formerly of DIVINE EVE). We play old Divine Eve songs as well as some newer ones. We plan to be playing the Milwaukee Metal Fest this July. I also have a gothic rock project in the works with Adrian and John of MINDROT. Our Keyboard player Ed plays in a 60's style Sid Berret Floyd space rock band. Very Hippiecore. Huggy Bear ohh yeah! Dwayne smoke pot as a project. Gary collects stringed instruments as a project.

What is the doom/death scene like in California? I know there are tons of death metal bands around there, but I don't know of many doom/death bands.
Mindrot, Morgion. That's it! In a realm all our own.

Have you ever played live with Mindrot? Rumor has it they're starting to sound like KORN.
As a matter of fact, we played our first show with Mindrot as well as at least two dozen other shows in the last six years. We also shared a rehearsal space with them for three years. They have been around since our first practice. They are very old friends. Yes they do have that rap-metal type sound a little bit but they are still in a lot of ways the same gloomy Mindrot!

How did Morgion get on the Celtic Frost tribute album? Who approached whom? Will Morgion be appearing on any other compilations in the future?
Raul Cabellero, the main Dwell-er, is a very old friend of ours. (We go way back!) Dwell asked us to do it. We were delighted, so we did it. The rest is history. Dwell is doing an Iron Maiden tribute and this time we hit them up and we did a cover for it: "To Tame a Land" from Piece of Mind. It should be out in a couple of months.

Has any artwork been chosen for the new album? Will the same logo be used? It's a damn nice one.
Yeah we have been throwing the artwork around, Gary is also a graphic artist so he spends a lot of time with the design. The logo will be the same, we like it a lot, too.

I know at least one member of the band likes the godly band Winter. Is everyone else in the band of the same opinion?
You know this, MAN! Of course. We used to do a cover of "Servants of the Warsmen". They by far are a classic in all our books! RISE!

What kind of stuff is available from the band? Just the Among . . . CD? Shirts?
We have long-sleeve shirts and stickers, posters and whatnot. The shirts are $16 USA/$18 world postage paid, send to Morgion c/o NIRIANDUSK@aol.com for ordering, please. Thanks.

That's it. Thanks for answering these questions. If you have anything else to say, the space is yours.
Hail to you whom gave the time to Morgion and to all true metal fanatics around the world! Cheers!