| DUST Review |
Mourning Beloveth - "Dust" Man oh man, I haven't heard fantastic doom/death like this since My Dying Bride and more recently with Shape Of Despair. This very interesting doom/death metal band from Ireland definitely gives hails to the old school My Dying Bride sound with touches of the instrumentation you might hear from more recent Shape Of Despair works, utilizing some of the most vicious death metal vocals this genre has ever heard, along with a cleanly sung male voice that definitely can dip down low and remind one instantly of Aaron from M.D.B. The CD starts off HEAVY with 'The Mountains Are Mine' (have they been borrowing lyrics from Immortal?) and damn near never lets up. Clean and death vocals alternate quite frequently and make for an interesting listen, after all most of the songs here far exceed the 9 and 10 minute mark! On the opener I could have sworn I heard A.A. from Primordial doing spoken word. The guitars on this album are some of the most striking, emotional and powerful I have heard in awhile. Just listen to the way 'Autumnal Fires' starts out, which is truly one of my favorite tracks. 'Sinistra' was a great instrumental, one of the shortest tunes here at roughly 3 minutes, utilizing some very moving and deep acoustic riffs. 'Dust,' the title track, has some of the most vicious and sick death metal vocals you'll hear on this record, but they never get out of control. In addition, guitar lovers will have plenty to go nuts over with this track. There were a few extra tracks added for the re-release, which was originally pressed in 2000. 'Forever Lost Emeralds,' which was pulled from their 1998 demo, ends the CD quite well, though it's where the points come off, as his lower toned sung vocals sound a bit off, and the guitar work meshed against the death metal vocals didn't sit well with me completely, but still it's a track that does not sound out of place against the more recent material. Finally, 'It Almost Looked Human' is from their upcoming album "The Sullen Suleus" and if this track is any indication at all, I will DEFINITELY be bugging the label to make sure I get this. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, and for sure to gain one of the best doom/death releases of 2002, in a genre that does not put out a lot of releases. |