THE SULLEN SULCUS Review

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Mourning Beloveth 'The Sullen Sulcus'

Mourning Beloveth is an Irish doom/death metal quintet formed in the winter of 1992. The present line-up of the band consists of Darren Moore (infernal growls), Frank Brennan (guitar and vocals), Brian Delaney (guitar), Adrian Butler (bass) and Tim Johnson (drums), and the reason we're paying attention to this five-piece is their second full-length studio album, "The Sullen Sulcus".Recorded at the Academy Studios in the spring of 2002 and released a few months later, this gloomy sound-creature offers brilliant doom/death metal in the best vein of the early 90's. Mourning Beloveth have taken the best elements from the works of bands like My Dying Bride, the early Anathema and Cathedral, Paradise Lost's classic album "Gothic" and stuff alike. The combination results in six ultra-slow, scary, extremely heavy and full of deep-throat moans compositions, spread over a time-field of 65 minutes... and that's exactly where the only problem of this album could be found. Although, as already written, "The Sullen Sulcus" gathers in one all the best elements of classic doom/death metal, the 6 tracks - from the opening monster "The Words That Crawled" to the closing ode "Anger's Streaming Arrows" - are much too long; add to this a certain lack of originality and variety, and you'll get the negative point of the album. Otherwise, especially for adorers of the bands mentioned a few lines above, Mourning Beloveth's offering is a definite must-have.

Author: [Nicki]