Mourning
Beloveth 'The Sullen Sulcus'
Misty Eire has always had a special influence on man’s creativity. How many movies, books, music had reached us at all times … if coming from Ireland it had a certain depth and infinity. You have doom and DOOM. What Mourning Beloveth offers us on this record is just that ‘doomier’ : in six long tracks they show us an enormous power and purity which results in an intriguing and entertaining piece of art.
My first summary notice of the group happened while reading a magazine in 2001. ‘Dust’ was about to release and it was described as ‘slow doom influenced by early My Dying Bride and Anathema’ My interest was evoked ! Also this second release is recorded in the famous Academy Studios with a little help from Mags.
‘The words that crawled’ is a track that climbs step by step to the decayed ruins of the ghost, dominated by solemn spoken words, mixed with dynamic grunts. But the overwhelming atmosphere is created by constant melodic guitar lines in a wandering style. Mourning Beloveth is not instant music to consume, neither it pretends to have some commercial influences. The real enchantment will only take a hold of you after many consecrated listening, if you can find yourself a bit in this super gloomy world of loss, loneliness and despair. Take care : the group don’t preach depression at itself, but realizes that negative feelings are a part of each human existence and the world itself.
Striking point on this CD is the part of guitar player Frank, responsible for the clean vocals, bringing up some Celtic feelings against those mighty growling grunts of Darren. ‘The insolent caul’ has some groovy Black Sabbath and Candlemass reminding riffs. These are solid riffs, surviving all those years, while in the middle of the song we can dream away on clean, devote vocals. Some spacious guitar opens ‘Narcissistic funeral’. Later comes more of it in a repetitive way. It’s hypnotically as dancing dervishes losing themselves in a feeling of transcendence. They are masters in slow building up a song while not losing track of sparkling melodies on this 65 minutes flight through doomland.
My summit of atmospheric beauty is the title track ‘The sullen sulcus’. Ritual spoken words are followed by serene vocals, almost religious, with the petrified shadow of decline rising up before us in the background. Gentle walls of guitar leave some space for transparent decorative notes, in the instrumental parts they remind me a little bit of an extended version of Primordial. Mourning Beloveth is not a last minute flight to the sun but an adventurous trip, wandering with a wonderful feeling through undiscovered places. It might be the doom CD of the year !
Author: Vera ‘Gothica’ Matthijssens
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