Mourning Beloveth 'A Disease for the Ages'

Boy, will this “A Disease For The Ages” be a hard album for Mourning Beloveth. Why? Because their opus “A Murdering Circus” was a monument to me, and although from a different genre, that album is to me what “Reign In Blood” is to Slayer. Perhaps the band realizes that themselves and that, or the departure of Adrian Butler, is the reason why it took them three years to come up with the successor.

To get to the point immediately: “A Disease For The Ages” is indeed a great album. It sets a doom standard at a point where the leading doom act My Dying Bride has stepped away towards a more modern sound, but it will always stand in the shadow of mighty “A Murdering Circus” to me. Yet those who like “The Sullen Sulcus” better might be pleased with this “A Disease For The Ages”. Personally, I think it is rather in between both albums, although the massive production is resembling the great and massive sound of the album before. The opening song reminds me of ‘The Words That Crawled’, where as ‘Primeval Rush’ takes me back to “A Murderous Circus”… Taking it away from personal preferences: this is a doom album by the book! 5 songs in a bit less than 56 minutes, heavy as hell and not just heavy, but also with a firm dose of melancholy. This feeling is supported by the clean, emotional vocals by Frank, supporting the deep and superb grunts of main vocalist Darren.

Once more Mourning Beloveth delivers a great doom album, a must-have for all those who love doom. Great songs, a massive production with a great balance between voice and all of the instruments. Three years may be long, but once more it was well worth the wait! With this "A Disease For The Ages" Mourning Beloveth prove themselves to be the top of current doom metal!

Vampire Mag