Biography
Formed in 1990 in Orange County, California, Morgion stood out as one of the most overlooked American acts in the doom and death metal realm, brought together by Jeremy Peto on vocals and bass, Dwayne Boardman on guitars and vocals, and drummer Rhett Davis. The Rabid Decay demo surfaced in 1992, followed a year later by the 7" single "Travesty," yet the group—now expanded with guitarist Bobby Thomas and keyboardist Ed Parker—did not secure a contract with Relapse Records until 1997, at which point it issued its debut full-length, Among Majestic Ruin. Already tracked three years earlier, the record wove expansive, atmospheric layers of slow, heavily detuned, and selectively tuneful doom and death metal that echoed the bleak, self-destructive intensity of English forebears like Paradise Lost and Katatonia, prompting support tours alongside Entombed and Autopsy. Morgion also contributed to a Celtic Frost tribute collection and appeared at Milwaukee Metal Fest ahead of tracking the stronger 1999 follow-up Solinari. By that stage Thomas and Parker had exited, giving way to multi-instrumentalist Gary Griffith on guitars and keyboards, and the lineup felt more cohesive than before—only for disputes about touring schedules and artistic aims to trigger a bitter dissolution. The split proved temporary, however, as the band regrouped in 2002 without Peto, whose bass role went to Justin Christian for the uneven third album Cloaked by Ages, Crowned in Earth, released in 2004. Shortly afterward Morgion adopted the name Dustflow, and in 2008 Relapse Records compiled a retrospective spanning the outfit’s first two albums plus previously unheard demos and outtakes.
Albums