A
review from the gig in Dublin by Dave Gillespie
Doomination of Europe - Mourning Beloveth + Morgion + The Prophecy
Eamon Dorans, Dublin, 07 Feb 2003
An expectant crowd drawn from all corners of the island awaits the first
band of this hotly anticipated line up, and after torturing myself at
the merch stalls, I return to the main area just in time to catch Halifax's
The Prophecy. Contrary to what I had been expecing, they
owed more to early My Dying Bride than Anathema. However, as the set progressed
they were exposed as fairly standard doom-death with fast bits and a female
keyboard player, and whilst they were quite enjoyable, I was far from
moved. [3/5]
I had heard slightly more of America's Morgion than of
the previous band, and I was shocked to see them using clean vocals on
several occasions as I was not aware this was a facet of their material.
Much like The Prophecy, they failed to hold my attention past my initial
glances, and the style they demonstrated was more death metal that happened
to be slow than doom. Good enough just again lacking in any great distinctive
character. [3/5]
Mourning Beloveth, on the other hand, were a completely
different kettle of fish altogether. Opening with the titanic, epic "The
Mountains Are Mine" with such surging power that I could scarcely
credit it. Crowd pressure was immediately bowed to after the first song
and "Autumnal Fires"was aired. Indeed, tonight was a case of
the more familiar "Dust" material overshadowing the more layered
and obviously newer "Sullen Sulcus" tunes, and whilst the whole
set was good the old favourites stood out for me at any rate. No doubt
this will be rectified with further spins of the new album, but Mourning
Beloveth confirmed tonight what I had already suspected - that they are
absoultely world class. [4/5]
Dave Gillespie -- 21/02/02