Mourning Beloveth 'A Disease for the Ages'

Incredibly, our Earth has completed three revolutions around the sun since Kildare's finest sons Mourning Beloveth last tormented us with their monumental doom offering - A Murderous Circus. During this hiatus they have honed their skills, sharpened their blades and with the release of A Disease For The Ages delivered their most powerful slice of lugubrious majesty to date. A Disease... felicitously treats the slow deconstruction of the body and mind over time and after 56 punishing minutes not only do I feel suitably deconstructed but it becomes clear that Mourning Beloveth have resurrected doom metal's glory days. There is an obvious similitude with My Dying Bride (slow, purposeful drumming) and Candlemass (clear vocal sections), yet in the end such comparisons are futile as Mourning Beloveth reign indomitable. They appear to revel in the bleakness they forge. Hooks aplenty are administered as calculated guitar strikes, hammering home the gorgeously dolorous melodies that characterise the band, while the duelling vocals of Darren and Frank conspire to drive a bittersweet nail into the coffin of even the most demanding of doom aficionados. The song writing has been honed to perfection and crucially none of the band's intensity has been sacrificed. The music is free from the customary embellishments deemed necessary by many an exponent of the genre (female vocals, keyboards and the like are banished) and yet all of the songs stand alone as classics in their own right. Trace Decay, the second track is a contender for song of the year in any genre. Mourning Beloveth have fulfilled the immense promise they have continued to display since their inception and their two classic demo releases in the mid-late '90s. The sacred sword of doom has been driven deep into a mighty megalith and I sincerely doubt that any contender shall be able to remove it to displace the Emerald Isle's most tenebrific of sons as masters of the genre in 2008.

GEOFF BIRCHENALL 5.5 (Zero Tolerance)