Mourning Beloveth 'The Sullen Sulcus'

Maybe it's a little unfair, but when I buy albums I am just a bit more uptight on the quality than if I get them for free, as they are then more inclined to be slaughtered, so to say. The Mourning Beloveth album I have seen many glorious reviews of, and after numerous inquiries to Haavard, I had to give up and buy it, hehe.

Mourning Beloveth is from Ireland, and I guess you can't say that the Irish scene is crowded with bands, atleast not bands that has reached beyond its borders. But I can say that of the bands I have heard from Ireland, they are totally great, in this case both Primordial and Mourning Beloveth. The Sullen Sulcus is their second album and the first on the Norwegian label Aftermath Music. Jeg reckon most readers of metal-norge knows already about that company.

Mourning Beloveth play their Doom just the way I like it - heavy, well produced, melodious, atmospheric and not too funeral-like. Actually the most comparable would be to put them up against My Dying Bride, if we drop the synth, make them a bit harder and add Mourning Beloveth's distinction - the dry great sound.

The opener, The Words That Crawled is the most easy song to get into. What shines through on this track is the dry clear sound that makes a difference on the whole album. The production is really top-notch here, everything is as it should be, and the vocals rasping and enormous. Even though the boss himself claimed the Words That Crawled was a hittrack immidiatly, I have to disagree (although I can hear it is most accessible). For my part the 2nd track, It Almost Looked Human stands out - as it is on this one vocalist Darren sets in his great clean vocals. Okey, you might get some of that also on the 13 minute long opening track, but that I identify as mostly talking, backed up with a choir.

Anyway, it's not far into the album that the really fine gitarmelodies appear, The Insolent Caul and Narcississtic Funeral for example. There are no directly weak tracks here, since they all are so damn long, the album goes for over one hour with it's 6 tracks... Some parts might seem a but long-dragging, maybe a bit repetative.

Mourning Beloveth has anyway made a really fine album here, with some really crushing songs, and there is no doubt about that this band will reach far. I look forward to see if they can top this one!

8 / 10