| Mourning Beloveth (Demo tape) | 1996 | No Label |
The band, consisting of four members (vocals, two guitars, drums) lacked a bass player, but the bass guitar for this release was recorded by one of the guitar players. The recording happened as a student project for a guy called Adrian Butler who would join the band as bass guitar player shortly after the release of this demo tape and stay with the band from then onwards.
Both songs are in the same vein: Basic but excellent doom/death guitar melodies in the style of My Dying Bride flavoured by a deep death grunt, mixed with more atmospheric and even folky pieces. Some keyboard lines are added as a nice finishing touch, though not through the entire tracks. Superb bass intro on the first track, by the way.
The sound quality of the tape is what you would expect from a demo tape: Not overly produced, but more than clear enough to give an impression of the potential of the band.
The music sounds like older Anathema, guitar lines that remind of My Dying Bride, vocals and melodies sometimes remind of Paramaecium. This should give you an idea of what to expect of this Mourning Beloveth demo.
1. The Fruit & The Sorrow
2. Burden
Approx. 20 minutes
| Autumnal Fires (Demo tape) | 1998 | No Label |
The heavy twin guitars sound very brutal, yet intense. Some acoustic guitar parts add variation. The first two songs end with a piano outro, but just like on the first demo, tape keyboards are not used during the entire album. There is more difference in vocals this time too: normal singing, but with passion, is being used to complement the death grunts.
And here we can already see where the greatness of the 2000 demoCD is coming from. With the difference that the mid tempo pace of the tracks on this tape will be taken down to really doomy standards on the cd. This time, lyrics are included, and we can read stories about unreachable love in rich vocabulary.
This release is the first with the same full stable five-piece line-up as on the demo CD. And it sounds as a good and solid line-up. Let's hope this band will not be facing the same problem with so many other doom bands: more line-up changes than albums released. With a little luck this band can grow and release some great works of doom.
1. Forever Lost Emeralds
2. A Haunting Vision (this obsequious dream)
3. Autumns Fires in Somnolent Harmony
Approx. 40 minutes
| Dust (CD) | 2000 | No Label |
The tracks are long (5 tracks for 53 minutes plus one hidden instrumental track of 3 minutes at the end), and they all have their slower and faster, more brutal parts. Needless to say is that the ultraslow, tearing, sickening parts are more important. The lyrics deal with nothing but pain, suffering, and death at the end of our transitory lives.
I haven't heard any other releases of this band, if there are any, but I guess I can say that there seem to be more doom bands around than one would expect. We can only hope that Mourning Beloveth, being an Irish band, gives existence and growth to another scene in the world of doom-metal.
All freaks of slow and heavy doom/death: this is up your alley. Get this release. Get more info at: http://www.mourningbeloveth.com/ or e-mail the band: adrian@mourningbeloveth.com.
1. The Mountains are Mine
2. In Mourning my Days
3. Dust
4. Autumnal Fires
5. All Hope is Pleading
6. Sinistra (hidden)
Approx. 56 minutes
| The Sullen Sulcus (CD) | 2003 | Aftermath Music |
With an average of eleven minutes per track, slow tempo, mournful guitar melodies and slow pounding drums, this entire release breathes doom from the first till the last second. The style is comparable to 'Dust' although the band clearly evolved considerably. A hammering full sound (excellent work done in the Academy Studios, with Mags again), much more daring clean (and background) singing, even some distorted screams on the background during 'My Sullen Sulcus', creating an effect vaguely reminding of experimental stuff like Esoteric. It is close to incredible how much this band has matured over so little time. Their songwriting skills have improved seriously as well. Whereas some people might have been sceptic over the work done on the compositions of 'Dust', I'm confident they will have to revise their opinions with this new release. It's difficult to point out even a single weak moment.
The artwork from this CD has a warm, glowing red colour in common. As if the album is bleeding along the music. Lyrics are more abstract than on their debut, and more abstract than most of their fellow scene mates. Which leaves them open to a lot of interpretation, which I am not going to try here. Recurring theme in both lyrics and artwork is the typical curled form of the brain (see "sulcus"). The rest is up to each of you individually.
With this album, Mourning Beloveth has created a definite sound of their own, despite their influences and idols. The constant dialogue is sometimes surprisingly clear, very slow guitar melodies (not hidden behind a wall of pure distortion, although having all the needed volume) are this band's trademark. The dual vocal styles on top, especially with Darren's excellent grunts, is the perfect topping for this very tasty doom release. Between my sneak listening on the occasion of the interview 5 months ago and now, the album has only been growing on me. Fans of doom death metal should not hesitate a single second. This album is one very early nomination for the top 5 lists of 2003. Strongly recommended.
1. The Words that Crawle
2. It Almost Looked Human
3. The Insolent Caul
4. Narcissistic Funeral
5. My Sullen Sulcus
6. Anger's Steaming Arrows
Approx. 65 minutes
| Mournin Beloveth / Lunar Gate Split (7") | 2004 | Sentinel Records |
Mourning Beloveth have proven with their last album that they are among the best in today's doom/death scene and this new, previously unreleased track is no exception. 'Part 1' is in the same vein as the six brilliant tracks on 'The Sullen Sulcus', but it adds a new perspective as well. Besides the familiar strong riffing, leads, Darren's growls and Frank's clean vocals, there is the addition of whispered screams in the middle section. The song ends with a true headbang that harkens back to when "my days were in mourning". I guess you can spot the reference somewhere on this page…
This is simply top notch, despite the production, which is significantly 'underground'.
Lunar Gate is a band I hadn't heard of before, which is no real surprise, given the relatively small international fame of most Irish bands. They deliver melancholic mid-tempo melodic metal led by a good female vocalist (that says a lot coming from me). 'Latitude' is a reworking of the title track of a self-produced MCD by the band, which I don't have available as a reference. I’ll have to make do with just this, but that's enough. The song has a surprising appeal; surprising because I generally have little love for this style of metal. The overall sad atmosphere that lasts throughout the song is quite catchy, the way it is delivered by gentle guitars and soft vocals. The addition of a tenor saxophone as a solo instrument seems rather pointless, but it is not annoying either. All in all a very decent work, which may be interesting to the more 'soft' doomsters.
And now, a final word about the layout. For a picture disc, I find the depiction rather uninspired, and I hope future releases will feature a bit more attention in that area. Besides that, this is all good stuff...
Mourning Beloveth:
1. Part 1
Lunar Gate:
2. Latitude (variation 2003)
Approx. 13 minutes