INTERVIEWS

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From Metal Nightmare zine

Tom Wren MetalNightzine@aol.com>
Metal Nightmare zine

1. How did you develop your sound? To me, it's like the missing link between Solitude Aeternus and early Anathema.

Mourning Beloveth began with no particular genre in mind, it was just a vent for our negative emotions and in the beginning the songs had no common link ie we had a death song a black song and a doom song. BY the time we recorded our first demo in 96 we had just naturally fallen into the doom/death genre of metal and this became more apparent as we wrote songs for our second demo Autumnal Fires in 98 where some of the songs are almost funeral doom. When we recorded our first album in Academy in 2000 many people hailed the cd as the missing link to the glory days of the early 90's doom/death scene with an original touch in the dual vocal assault. This continued to the recording of the new album this year The Sullen Sulcus where we continue to forge the doom/death of our early period but with alot of new aspects also. We just play what we feel and the fact that we all grew up listening to metal it was just a natural progression.

2. What tunings do you use, and do you plan to go lower in the future?

We play in C sharp and there are no plans to change just yet.

3. Why does Mourning Beloveth choose to stick with the "death"vocals,when so many other doom bands have abandoned them?

As I said above we grew up with metal and a major influence on us was the early nineties doom/death scene and the fact that I am the main vocalist and cannot sing properly (haha). Death vocals give a certain feeling of despair that clean vocals sometimes just cannot touch and it is this feeling we are trying to capture with them.

4. Why do you think other "similar' bands, such as Anathema or Paradise Lost changed so much, and do you think you might follow suit?

They changed, and in fact turned there back on Metal in general a long time ago and generally in my opinion went downhill since this turn. I cannot see Mourning Beloveth ever doing this, or if we do I won't be in the band.

5. Do you or any of your bandmates need to be in a specific mood (like very depressed) to write songs?

Of course we need to be in a specific mood to write the music we do, generally miserable and depressed or sometimes even angry. The fact is that why write about something that makes you happy? that is what memories are for. We write miserable music to vent our negative emotions and to lay them aside. The world we live in is full of shit that we must deal with every day and what better way to deal with it than to write about it, there is none of this false pseudo christianity shit, just pure, raw emotion in the art form that is Doom metal.

6. Right now, you're on your own label. Would you sign to a larger label if the opportunity arose, or would you rather license your material? Or would you just prefer to keep things as they are?

We are not signed to any label but Sentinel Records, which our bass player runs with another guy, has just re-released Dust.
Plans are afoot to sign to a label for our next release but if the opportunity arose to sign to a big label we would, as long as the conditions are right, who wouldn't?
We are also about to release a split 7" picture vinyl with another Irish band, Lunar Gate, through Sentinel and this should be available next month.

7. Ireland doesn't seem like a very big place to live, as far as a scene or playing concerts. Is it difficult in that regard? Over here in California, bands can just jump in their cars and drive to Los Angeles, San Francisco, or cities in Arizona. In Ireland, even getting over to England must be an undertaking.


Ireland has three main places to play gigs, Dublin, Cork and Belfast. Since the scene is so small it is not a good idea to play alot of gigs as people soon get sick of you. It is getting easier and cheaper to travel abroad these days and soon we will be touring Europe with Morgion and The Prophecy. This will happen in February next year and it should be an interesting time.
The scene in Ireland is small and has say 200 dedicated followers and some great bands like Primordial and Waylander among others.

8. Why did you choose to re-release "Dust" with bonus tracks? Do you feel that you're ripping off fans that bought the original pressing?

The simple fact is that we did a print run of 1000, 300 of which were sent out as promos to labels and magazines. We have sold the rest of these cds and Sentinel stepped in to do another print run. The bonus tracks are for people to show we have a past (Forever Lost Emeralds) and that we have a future It almost Looked Human from the forthcoming album The Sullen Sulcus. It is up to you to buy the re-release or not so only you can decide if it is a rip off.

9. Final comments are yours, and thanks!!


Keep an eye to our website,www.mourningbeloveth.com for all the latest news on the 7", the new album and the forthcoming tour and good luck to you with your zine Tom.