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Mourning Beloveth 'A Murderous Circus'
As I often say about an album: the more frequently I find myself listening
to it is as good a indication of how much I like it as any other. I've
been listening to MOURNING BELOVETH's new release "A Murderous Circus"
almost non-stop since I first got it. I think that conveys how much I
enjoy this album.
I'm no aficionado of Doom or even a semi-well versed fan really. Truthfully,
it's only in the last year or so I've found the genre and embraced it.
I know so far what I like in the style (MORGION, SWALLOW THE SUN) and
what I'm not impressed with (MY DYING BRIDE). "A Murderous Circus"
for me is one of the finest Doom releases I've had the joy of coming across.
Founded and based in Dublin on the Emerald Isle, MOURNING BELOVETH are
coming off of the fine "A Sullen Sulcus", a highly regarded
album itself. For me though, "A Murderous Circus" surpasses
it and goes into a superlative field well beyond. I was walking back from
the park in the sweltering Southern California sun over the weekend, listening
to the album and trying to think of what describes it best. The word that
struck me was "infectious". This is not a joke, but within a
minute I realized I was listening to the last line of the third track,
"An Elemental Wave" as goes, "It is infectious...this Murderous
Circus." No shit huh? Perhaps I had subconsciously registered that
line when hearing the album before, but it was weird.
All irony aside, it is true of the album: "A Murderous Circus"
is a mind swaying fest of sludgy riffs with plenty of catchy, speedier
portions of sweet, sweet Doom. All the way through the album, the band
(Darren, Brian, Frank, Adrian and Timmy) manage to never lose their Doom
spirit even when casting a net slightly beyond with mid-tempo arrangements.
All five songs contain this well paced aesthetic, but the Jewel of the
record is most certainly the opening track, "The Apocalypse Machine."
So expansive and layered, the song takes you on a journey through those
variants of MOURNING BELOVETH's brilliantly diverse catalogue of sounds.
The accumulation of different segments of the song doesn't intrude on
a congealed sense of the song's structure. It is wide, but still one glorious
piece of enigmatic Doom. With no song under twelve minutes, you know the
ride is long. But, it never feels like it and that is always the sign
of a great album. A fine work from Ireland's favourite Metal Sons and
a worthy export in the vein of Joyce, Guinness and Robert Emmett. (Online
August 18, 2005).
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