Today we’d like to introduce you to Yasser Morales.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
KOROIDIA
As the tides on the southeastern shores of the new world rise, threatening coastal cities, prayers are shouted towards the heavens, pleading for the mercy of God. A dark voice of reason crescendos in the form of God mocking, unholy sound of crushing force, and savagery… KOROIDIA.
Koroïdía (Greek translation for the word “Mockery”) rose in December of 2013 from the slumber of two original Hibernus Mortis members, Ralf Varela (guitar and vocals) and Yasser Morales (bass), who sought to forge Death Metal in the vein of the elder Gods of the Dark realm. Upon converging to strike the molten steel, the hymns that would become “Wrath Abomination” were born. The band enlisted veteran metal warrior Bill Barter (lead guitar) to join the ranks, and after short stints with a few drummers, found their fixture in Adrian Gonzalez — the man who would sound the drums of the apocalypse.
Entrenched in the South Florida Metal scene throughout 2014, Koroidia played shows from Miami to Tampa before unleashing their debut EP, “Wrath Abomination,” on Ceremonial Records in March 2015 — five songs of blasphemous, crushing Death Metal.
Shortly after the release, Bill Barter departed to pursue other projects, including Bestialis, Lvcifervs, Nuclear Christ, and Hexorcist. The band’s original core — Ralf Varela, Yasser Morales, and Adrian Gonzalez — pressed on, and in 2016 released a limited 3-song EP titled “Apparitions” on cassette through Repulsive Echo Records (Greece), with a digital release also made available. Tracklist: 1) Storms of Eradication, 2) Sworn to Erase the Scourge, 3) Apparitions.
In 2020, Yasser Morales reunited with Bill Barter, contributing bass to Hexorcist’s demo “Bestiarum Vocabulum” (Goat Throne Records), credited as Hexorcist II, before stepping away from that project to refocus on Koroidia and Hibernus Mortis.
In 2023, drummer Adrian Gonzalez departed the band to concentrate on his growing business and other musical endeavors. Mike Peña (Orbweaver) briefly filled in on drums before exiting, with Erren Adams (Implosive Disgorgence) taking over live drum duties. Around the same time, Glenn Conner (The Great Die) joined on lead guitar, and Chris Briggs (Deviant Burial) stepped in to handle vocal duties for live performances from 2023–2026.
Current lineup:
Ralf Varela — Guitar / Vocals
Glenn Conner — Lead Guitar
Yasser Morales — Bass Guitar
Erren Adams — Drums (Live)
“Infernal Gates, Open Wide to Where Darkness Dwells”
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Overall the band has been pretty successful in terms of what we set out to do, but there have definitely been a couple of stretches that slowed us down. The first was Ralf moving to Minnesota in April 2018. He came back to Hialeah/Miami in August 2019, and we started picking up steam again, but then COVID hit and things have never really gone back to how they were.
The world changed a lot after that. Life got more complicated for everyone, and even bigger bands have talked about the same struggles during and after COVID, the cost of everything went up, and touring and selling merch got a lot harder than it was pre-COVID. On top of that, Ralf and I both shifted a lot of our focus to our older project, Hibernus Mortis, which put out an album during COVID, and that complicated things for Koroidia even more.
It’s also worth mentioning that a lot of the South Florida venues that used to host shows before COVID, like Churchill’s Pub in Little Haiti and Las Rosas in Allapattah, closed down during the pandemic before eventually reopening. So it wasn’t just the artists who took a hit, the venues did too.
For Ralf and me, a lot of our inspiration has always come from playing live, both in Florida and out of state. When that dried up during and after COVID, it kept us from getting together as often, and that eventually led to things slowing down.
We still have a ton of unrecorded songs, and we’re gearing up to get back out there, release a full length, and start playing local and national shows again.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Koroidia plays old-school death metal, and that’s really the one goal Ralf and I had when we started the band: to pay homage to the old gods of death metal. Our sound draws heavily from the Florida death metal scene we grew up around, bands like Morbid Angel, Deicide, Obituary, Monstrosity, and Brutality all left their mark on us, but we’ve never sat down and consciously tried to sound like any one specific band. It’s more that those influences are baked into who we are as musicians.
What sets us apart, I think, is the amount of time we’ve put in. Koroidia might be a “new” band relatively speaking, but Ralf and I have been listening to extreme metal since the 80s, and our first project together, Hibernus Mortis, was born in the mid-90s, a time when death metal and South Florida honestly had no business being together. That history gives us a different perspective than a lot of newer bands. We’re not chasing a sound, we grew up inside it.
We’re most proud of our two East Coast tours and the response we got from metalheads both in the US and overseas to both of our releases, “Wrath Abomination” and “Apparitions.” Knowing that people outside of Florida, and even outside the country, connected with what we were doing means a lot. That’s the kind of thing that makes all the work worth it.
Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
Just that we’re not done, not even close. It’s been a minute since our last release, and life (and a global pandemic) got in the way for a while, but we’ve got a stockpile of unrecorded songs and we’re actively working toward getting a full length out and getting back on stages, both locally and nationally. If you’ve been with us since “Wrath Abomination” or “Apparitions,” thank you for sticking around, and if you’re just discovering us now, there’s more coming.
We’d also encourage people to support their local scenes. A lot of the venues that gave bands like us a place to play, Churchill’s, Las Rosas, and others here in South Florida, took real hits during COVID. Some didn’t make it. Show up, buy a ticket, buy a shirt, it matters more than people realize.
Old school death metal isn’t going anywhere. Neither are we.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://koroidia.bandcamp.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/official_koroidia/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/koroidia/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@KoroidiaBand
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/69Epuqf30v1XnjLoLuKBR9?si=xjHHo9I-Tyy0SPmfRuNeGw
