NECROPHAGIA's 'Moribundis Grim' Album To Include KILLJOY's Final Recordings

After many years of silence, pioneering death metal act NECROPHAGIA has reawakened. The band's revamped lineup has signed to Time To Kill Records for the release of its final album, "Moribundis Grim".

In the years of 2016-2018, NECROPHAGIA's last lineup — Killjoy, Serge Streltsov, Shawn Slusarek and Jake Arnette — composed and started recording what became "Moribundis Grim". Unfortunately, in 2018 Killjoy passed away before finishing the album. In 2022 with the help of special guests and former NECROPHAGIA members — John McEntee from INCANTATION, Titta Tani (ex-GOBLIN) and Mirai Kawashima from SIGH — the album was finally completed.

In a way, it is quite sensational to see another NECROPHAGIA album released at this point in time, meaning 40 years after their first demos were released!

Streltsov commented: "'Moribundis Grim' is Killjoy's final album. These are his last vocal performances. The album features the last NECROPHAGIA live lineup: Killjoy Desade, Serge Streltsov, Shawn Slusarek and Jake Arnette, along with special guest John McEntee and previous members Titta Tani and Mirai Kawashima. These songs are the demos the band and Killjoy worked on up until Killjoy's passing. Also featuring reworked versions of songs from the first album and a SAMHAIN cover. Once again the bastard children of horror and gore capture the true essence of what NECROPHAGIA is all about. Killjoy and Fulci Live! Gore Forever!"

Completed from a remote creative exchange, with ideas being bounced back and forth between all members to create an eight-track barrage of death metal, "Moribundis Grim" is an incredible achievement.

Recording lineup:

Killjoy Desade - Lead Vocals
Serge Streltsov - Guitars, Bass
Shawn Slusarek - Drums
Jake Arnette - Bass
Titta Tani - Drums, Backing Vocals
Mirai Kawashima - Keys
John McEntee - Guest Vocals
Dee Commisso - Keys

Killjoy died on March 18, 2018. The vocalist, whose real name was Frank Pucci, was 51 years old. No cause of death was released.

Pucci formed NECROPHAGIA in 1983 and released the band's debut album, "Season Of The Dead", in 1987. Pucci was the sole remaining original member in NECROPHAGIA's most recent lineup, which issued its latest LP, "WhiteWorm Cathedral", in 2014.

PANTERA frontman Philip Anselmo offered to write a NECROPHAGIA record nearly three decades ago, which then resulted in his appearance on 1998's "Holocausto De La Morte", NECROPHAGIA's second full-length studio album. Anselmo contributed guitar tracks to the effort (under the name Anton Crowley) and two follow-up EPs, "Black Blood Vomitorium" (1999) and "Cannibal Holocaust" (2001),before departing the band.

"Philip is a great guy; he's like a brother to me. Unfortunately, due to extreme scheduling conflicts and previous commitments, we will not be working together any longer," Pucci said in a 2002 interview.

Pucci first met Philip in 1990, bonding over their "mutual passion for true horror. He resurrected NECROPHAGIA in 1997 by writing some truly dark, horrific music that persuaded me to start doing music and NECROPHAGIA again," Frank explained.

Killjoy and Anselmo also wrote and recorded together as members of Philip's VIKING CROWN project, which released two full-length albums and an EP in the late '90s and early 2000s.