A review from the gig in Gent by by Vera ‘Gothica’ Matthijssens
Doomination of Europe 2003
Pantheist – The Prophecy – Mourning Beloveth – Morgion
Frontline café Tweede Zit – Gent – 21/02/2003
On Friday the 21st of February I was present at the Frontline club (Ghent)
to see a very interesting package, already on the road for about 14 days
as ‘Doomination of Europe 2003’. After concerts in Dublin,
England, France, Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands, they had chosen
Belgium for their last gig, home of Heiko, the man who took the initiative
and made it all happen.
The mini festival had a steady line-up of three bands : The Prophecy (U.K.), Mourning Beloveth (Ireland) and Morgion (U.S.A.). Every time a local group could open the festivities. In France it was Ataraxie, today we could see Pantheïst, a Belgian doom-collective who’s about to release their first album. Today they appeared on stage with guest guitar-player Andy (ex-Bellator). Their set exists of 4 long tracks, namely ‘O solitude’, Time’, ‘Envy us’ and ‘Curse the morning light’, good for 40 minutes of music. What’s important though; they had a floating evolution and diversity which make me look forward to the release of the album.
After a short break The Prophecy got on stage. They are raised in the ‘blooming doom-scene’, area of Yorkshire, the part of England where the leading doomsters of Anathema, My Dying Bride and Paradise Lost have their homes. Of course they are influenced by these, as every band of this evening I guess, but the point is that they all have a different accent on their musical escapes. For The Prophecy it’s the keyboards contribution of Katie Colbrook, making it sounds quite atmospherically. Voice and act of singer Matt Lawson are heavily influenced by Aaron from MDB but it suits him well. By the way, the sound in the venue this evening was pure and bright, no equipment problems at all. The Prophecy have just released their second album ‘Ashes’ and the show of tonight was focused on this new release.
I had great expectations to see Mourning Beloveth. This Irish group had a re-release of their debut ‘Dust’ in September 2002, some bonus tracks are added. Tonight we could also enjoy the strong material of the new ‘The sullen sulcus’. Their original roots have evolved into an own, almost unearthly style that hardly can be labelled. The Frontline shook on its fundaments, experiencing this slow doom tracks. But above all it’s the tense interaction between Darren’s sympathetic grunt and Frank’s clean vocals making it all come over as a Celtic happening. And very special !
On CD I thought about the Danish Saturnus sometimes, this grandeur feeling of heavy doom tracks, long-length. But live it all sounded still more imposing (and not only because of their appearances) Morgion interrupted the recordings of a new album to do this tour. They played many songs of the preceding ‘Solinari’ but also some new compositions. New songs, that are growing every day now by playing them live before an audience. We can look forward to the refreshing result when the new CD ‘Cloaked by ages, crowned in earth’ comes out and we all realize that some of the inspiration comes from the tour experience. Nice to know !
Long tracks are played and built cautiously to a climax, performed tightly under the all-seeing eyes of prime member/drummer Rhett. It turned out into a concert we will remember !!!
It was a fantastic headliner for tonight and also a bright finale of this tour.
Reviewed by Vera ‘Gothica’ Matthijssens