Mournful Sounds (2025)

09/10/2024

Mournful Sounds retires...

It has been too many years now that, each time, I can no longer fully enjoy listening to a good record because I immediately start thinking about the words to use in the review; the writing and subsequent publication of the book "Il Suono del Dolore" has brought me to a different level of personal satisfaction, especially for the attainment of the knowledge that I have produced something that has been considered truly useful by the majority of its purchasers.
The same cannot be said for all the reviews I have continued to write, about which I increasingly have the unpleasant feeling that they are a duty to be fulfilled rather than what they should be, nothing more than a pleasant exercise in popularisation addressed to funeral and death doom fans like myself. The fact that Mournful Sounds is followed in theory by several hundred people, but that each review almost never reach double digits in terms of reactions (which in itself is not even synonymous with reading the content), is another element that prompted me to make the decision to return to listening to music for the sheer pleasure of doing so, allowing me to open myself up to genres that I may not have listened to for some time because I was too focused only on those I was forced (by myself, let's be clear) to talk about.
So, those who are perhaps expecting the usual two lines on recently released or soon-to-be-released records should know that this will not happen simply because I have lost the drive that must accompany every activity, all the more so if it is carried out only for pleasure. However, my support for those who continue to produce good music will not be lacking, perhaps in the form of a short post on my personal profile, but certainly not in a structured manner as on a page or webzine.
I also want to make it clear that I continue to consider writing reviews as something useful and noble, obviously if done with due passion and competence; I certainly do not want to become one of those stupid guys that as soon as they cease an activity deride or underestimate those who continue it.
👉Let me close with a service announcement: I will still continue to write as well as to deal with music, albeit in different forms; I am also open to possible collaborations, projects and anything else that is stimulating to do, you know where to find me. Also, if there is anyone interested in continuing Mournful Sounds without me, we can talk about it.

26/09/2024

Helevorn - Espectres

Helevorn have gained a relevant status within the melodic death doom scene thanks to a series of albums of increasing value, peaking with the magnificent Aamamata, released in 2019. The five years that elapsed between that work and the new Espectres is a usual timeframe for the Spanish band, which, throughout its 20-year career, has never rushed things. The fifth full length thus arrives after a relatively long gestation in which there has also been a notable reshuffle in the line-up, since, in addition to founder and singer Josep Brunet, only guitarist Sandro Vizcaíno has remained among the hystorical members. All this does not seem to have modified Helevorn's compositional coordinates, except for a perceptible heavier sound on several occasions, thanks to a style that is by now well recognisable and personal, and which does not betray on this occasion either. Eight varied and effective songs follow one another in a convincing manner, even if, in the end, the feeling is that Espectres, however good, does not reach the emotional level and intensity of Aamamata, and in comparison to it, it discounts the enormous intrinsic value of that work. In fact, the Majorcan band performs a compact full length, devoid of weaknesses, except perhaps on the occasion of the ordinary The Lost Futures, and endowed with memorable tracks such as Unbreakable Silence, with its slowed down and sharp rhythms that envelop a crystalline melodic development, without forgetting the dragging gait of Signals or the opening couple Inherit the Stars / The Defiant God. There is also the now customary and well-chosen track in the mother tongue with the contribution of female vocals (L'Endema), while a mention is in order for the closing track Children of the Sunrise, featuring Thomas Jensen of Saturnus on vocals, and for When Nothing Shudders, song dedicated to Palestine confirming Brunet's attention for the fate of the weakest and oppressed, as already expressed in a formidable manner in Aamamata, that was thematically focused on the perennial tragedy of the migrants who died in the Mediterranean. Wanting to make a final summary, one can say with certainty that Espectres is an album that doesn't disappoint the expectations towards a band from which one can always expect evidence of absolute value.

2024 - Meuse Music Records

Meuse Music Records
Helevorn

13/09/2024

Destruction of Orion - Decreasing Brightness

Among the positive surprises that periodically appear on the funeral doom scene, one must necessarily include this new entity called Destruction of Orion. In addition to the musical content of the debut album Decreasing Brightness, one cannot help but be immediately struck by the fact that behind this project is a young Bulgarian woman who takes care of all the instruments, as well as exhibiting a very effective and absolutely unforced growl. All these elements immediately determine important reasons of interest for fans, but it is certainly not only because of this that listening to Decreasing Brightness proves to be a harbinger of satisfaction. Tehina Spasova is in fact a musician who, at her first ever recording experience, handles the material as if she had done nothing else so far in life, and her approach to funeral doom proves to be rather personal, although as we know the subgenre is not one that leaves too much room for manoeuvre, and if we really want to find possible terms of comparison I would look at the beginnings of the Russian scene (Intaglio, in particular) but with a greater expressive linearity. In a long concept in which the death of the stars is allegorically superimposed on that of humanity, Spasova offers a harsh but sufficiently atmospheric sound, punctuated by good piano work and, despite the already excellent level attained, susceptible to improvements, especially in the rhythmic base. After a canonical intro, the notes of Rigel's Fall prove to be exhaustive of Tehina's talent, and immersion in this approximately eighty-minute space voyage is therefore recommended without any contraindications to those in constant search of stimulating novelties in the funeral doom sphere.

2024 - Independent

Destruction of Orion

06/09/2024

Officium Triste - Hortus Venenum

Officium Triste have basically enjoying a comfortable cult status for decades, perhaps not having reached in terms of popularity realities such as Swallow the Sun or Saturnus, just to remain within the melodic death doom genre. This may be due to various factors, certainly not to a lower intrinsic value of the albums released by the Dutch band during their thirty-year career; a consistently high average quality has characterised the seven full lengths published, most recently the recently released Hortus Venenum, which comes five years after the previous The Death of Gaia . If that work had pushed Officium Triste to a peak that appeared difficult to surpass, Hortus Venenum succeeds in this feat. The band, which is still led by three of its founding members (vocalist Pim Blankenstein, guitarist Gerard de Jong and drummer Martin Kwakernaak), has always been characterised by a rather linear search for melody, in this sense just like Saturnus, without ever betraying its trademark but rather perfecting it from time to time, avoiding experimental temptations on the one hand or excessive softening on the other. Indeed, Blankestein never deviates, except for a few recited passages, from his unmistakable growl, giving the whole a dramatic impulse that flows into the impeccable melodic flow of the sound. The six songs, totalling forty minutes, represent the most concrete example of how death doom in its most emotional guise should always be played, with moments of spasmodic involvement scattered throughout each track, among which the stupendous Anna's Woe earns its nomination as the high point of a tracklist unassailable from the first to the last note.

2024 - Transcending Obscurity Records

Officium Triste
Transcending Obscurity Records

03/09/2024

Föhn - Condescending

When Föhn released their single-track demo A Day After about two years ago, I think I was one of the few who talked about it; after all, I was really impressed by that quarter of an hour of top-notch funeral doom, the fruit of the inspiration of former Shattered Hope drummer Georgios Schoinianakis, assisted on vocals by Nick Vlachakis, himself in the magnificent Athenian band.
Today, with the new trio line-up for the addition of bassist Georgios Miliaras, those excellent premises are not only confirmed but even enhanced by a work such as Condescending, an album that, in addition to a slightly retouched version of A Day After, contains three other tracks capable of enveloping the listener in a spiral of immeasurable pain, without forfeiting a skilful melodic component offset by a sometimes experimental nature.
In fact, the sax that rages in both Bereft and Persona does not appear out of place at all, even though it is inserted in a context where wind instruments can usually appear as such; this is thanks to Schoinianakis' brilliant writing, perfect in seamlessly alternating those cues with airy openings and more intimate passages.
As said, if tracks like Bereft and Persona represent respectively the opening and the closing of the work with their contents sometimes alternative to the sub-genre's customs, the already known A Day After and the following The Weight of Nothing show a more orthodox and close to perfection approach to the matter; all this, in addition to the usual excellent work of finalization by Greg Chandler, makes Föhn's first full length a must-have work for those who love such leaden sounds.

2024 - Hypaethral Records / These Hands Melt

Föhn
These Hands Melt
Hypaethral Records

20/07/2024

Amarok - Resilience

Although they have been active for some fifteen years now, Amarok, with this latest album entitled Resilience, are only on their second full length after Devoured, which dates back to 2018.
The sludge doom of the Californian band has taken on body and further substance over time, giving continuity (as evidenced also by the choice of including progressive numbering in the title of each track since the debut ep in 2010) to a sound that today is not even that far removed from that of the magnificent Abandon, although I don't know how much this influence may be induced or accidental; after all, both the evocation of a sense of harrowing suffering and the powerful funeral veins strongly recall a masterpiece like The Dead End, the swan song of the seminal Swedes.
However, Amarok's compositional code is as personal as ever, precisely because compared to the more canonical sludge doom, the band led by the two original members Brandon Squyres (bass and vocals) and Kenny Ruggles (guitar and vocals), assisted here as in Devoured by Nathan Collins (guitar) and Colby Byrn (drums), is not afraid to slow down the rhythms to the point of almost asphyxiation, averted by an ever-present atmospheric and melodic mood.
The four long tracks (plus instrumental interlude) are quite varied and different from each other in terms of characteristics and mood, although without straying from an appreciable stylistic orthodoxy: Charred (X) possesses a solidly sludge-like imprint, only intersected by a delicate rarefaction in the middle part, Ascension (XI) is wonderfully funeral in its purest sense, Penance (XII) thrives on the dichotomy between the melodic pacing of the initial phase before the rough acceleration in its second half, while finally Legacy (XIII), with its more cadenced and relatively airy progression, ideally depicts the ability to rise again from devastation (physical in the first case, moral in the second) that basically unites both nature and mankind, understood however more as individuals than as a species.
With Resilience, Amarok stand as the authors of one of the best sludge doom albums of the year, certainly at least as far as the deepest and most introspective fringe of the subgenre is concerned.

2024 - Vendetta Records / Vulture Print

17/07/2024

Abysskvlt - mDzod Rum

Abysskvlt are one of the best expressions of Russian funeral doom among those that have emerged in the past decade, thanks in particular to their first three albums, Thanatochromia (2015), Khaogenesis (2018) and Phur G.Yang (2021), which showed a band capable of expressing a deep and enveloping sound; the last long-distance release, on the other hand, leaned more towards sounds closely related to eastern mysticism, as these mysterious musicians are adherents of the Tibetan religion Bon.
If that work released in 2022, entitled Bon Meditations, was in fact a collection of Tibetan mantras enveloped in a thick blanket of dark ambient, the newly released full length, mDzod Rum, ideally unites Abysskvlt's two main stylistic impulses, revealing itself to be a mammoth work, being divided into two CDs, each lasting around 70 minutes.
The first part of the album substantially restarts from what was heard in Bon Meditations, while the second takes up that ritual doom funeral that was well exhibited in Phur G.Yang; in fact, compared to the first two works, which were relatively more fluent and not without excellent melodic openings, the band from Samara in recent years has taken the ritual aspect of its sound to extremes, which obviously does not facilitate its enjoyment.
Such a choice cannot, however, be contested in any way, in light of the stylistic and conceptual integrity demonstrated throughout the entire discography, but there is no doubt that the twenty-two minutes of dizzying beauty of the final track Mu Zhi mThu are the best example of what Abysskvult can do when they allow a more atmospheric form of funeral doom to flow, without renouncing a mystical aura favoured by the use of traditional Tibetan instruments.
The fact remains that mDzod Rum is a work of great depth, both from a spiritual and a strictly musical point of view, but one cannot hide the fact that such sounds are primarily intended for those with a meditative disposition.

2024 - Independent

Abysskvlt

10/07/2024

Silent Vigil - Hope and Despair

At the beginning of the decade, an interesting death doom band called Woccon emerged in Athens, the birthplace of the much better known R.E.M., whose most tangible fruit was the 2014 full length Solace in Decay.
Since then, the band has essentially lost track of it (its current status is in fact 'split-up'), while its leader Tim Rowland only reappeared several years later with other projects of a more extreme nature, to finally return in 2024 to offer those more slowed-down and intense sounds with Silent Vigil, the Georgia musician's new creature.
If, in the past, the sound mainly drew its sap from the teachings of Daylight Dies, all in all this new Hope and Despair is an album that moves in continuity with that style, which here is further reaffirmed, finally giving the desired follow-up, albeit with a different moniker, to the abrupt closure of Woccon ten years ago.
The instrumental introduction Restoration is the evocative prologue to a work that unfolds intense, robust and full of melodic and melancholic transport, with eight good songs on which My Refuge and Inventor stand out. Hope and Despair is what Tim Rowland needed to bring back his natural talent for these mournful sounds.

2024 - Independent

Silent Vigil

08/07/2024

Still Wave - A Broken Heart Make An Inner Constellation

From the ever-fertile underground Capitoline scene emerge Still Wave, a band that brings together musicians active in other relevant realities; the approach exhibited in this debut full length is substantially ascribable to a post-black rich in nuances and variations on the theme, always inspired and with a notable melodic impact.
Certainly the presence at the microphone of Valerio Granieri is suggestive of some similarities with Rome in Monochrome, due to the particular timbre of the vocalist, but on closer inspection the differences between the two groups are more than substantial, as that more dreamy and intimist procession here is replaced by a background still firmly metal which is contrasted by pop rock impulses of great effectiveness.
The songs follow on from one another, never predictable and often with choruses that stick in the mind, as emblematically happens in the masterful Near Distant, without neglecting the impact of the more animated Dead Ends, the gothic rock scents of Ghost of a Song and the versatile elegance of the instrumental 11.
A Broken Heart Make An Inner Constellation is a work that pleasantly surprises for its completeness and for the unexpected amalgamation of melodic parts and sudden but well-integrated metal outbursts; in short, there is no shortage of good reasons to encourage more open-minded listeners to savour this first work by the excellent Still Wave.

2024 - These Hands Melt

Still Wave
These Hands Melt
Metaversus PR

29/06/2024

Celestial Season - Mysterium III

Celestial Season bring to a close the Mysterium trilogy, begun in 2022, doing so in a convincing manner just as it had happened in the two previous parts; it is worth remembering that the Dutch band was among the first ever to propose the subgenre that would later be codified as gothic/death doom, moving chronologically almost simultaneously with the well-known My Dying Bride, the most contiguous among the historical names especially for the similar use of an instrument that was peculiar for those times, such as the violin.
After two magnificent full-lengths such as Forever Scarlet Passion (1993) and Solar Lovers (1995), the Nijmegen band unexpectedly turned towards sonorities close to stoner (which reappear in part in their last work with a notable Cathedral-oriented ride such as Black Goat Of The Woods) without, however, achieving the desired results, which inevitably led to the cessation of activity after the album released in 2000.
The long-distance return, twenty years later with The Secret Teachings, showed a band with an almost unchanged line-up compared to the one seen at work in the first two full lengths, and intent on resuming the discourse initially left out with Solar Lovers, demonstrating how opportune such an operation was; thus, the good feedback they received prompted Stefan Ruiters (vocals), Jason Köhnen (drums), Pim van Zanen (guitar), Olly Smit (guitar) and Lucas van Slegtenhorst (bass), aided by the string instruments of the younger Jiska ter Bal and Elianne Anemaat, to embark on the ambitious path of the Mysterium trilogy.
The third part moves stylistically in continuity with what was done in the first half of the nineties, but without this assuming a stale feel, with the genuine adherence to those historical stylistic elements becoming the strong point of Celestial Season's work in this decade, as doom must primarily be an expression of emotions, melancholic or painful as the case may be, and this is not well combined with overly glossy productions; Reuters' ranting, the work of his bandmates and the contribution of the violin and cello take us back to the golden age of the Peaceville Three and it's a nice sail into the past.
The aching sense of abandon of tracks such as Fecund Universe, Daughter of the Lake and We never Stray is emblematic of the validity of a work that fans also have the opportunity to enjoy in its entirety, the full version of the trilogy being available on Celestial Season's bandcamp with the title Orbis Mysterium (The Mysterium Trilogy).

2024 - Burning World Records/Roadburn Records

Celestial Season (Official Page)
Burning World Records

28/06/2024

Miserate - A Ritual of Doom

Interesting debut ep for Norwegian band Miserate, who are grappling with the not-so-obvious subject matter of melodic death doom. The Scandinavian band opts for a style that draws its sap from the inescapables Paradise Lost, as witnessed in particular by a track such as (We Watch) the Iron Sunrise, embedding a melodic impact of great value in which the lead guitar acquires an essential weight, without forgetting the band's excellent ensemble work. In the end, the only defect of A Ritual of Doom is its short duration, as it clocks in at less than twenty minutes; few, in an absolute sense, but enough, given the good performance of these four songs, to whet the appetite of some labels looking for emerging bands to launch into the fray. A name to note down in anticipation of further desirable future developments.

2024 - Independent

Miserate

26/06/2024

Ruststained - Years in Vain

Melodic death doom from North Macedonia? We have it. From the capital of the Balkan nation comes Ruststained, a quintet that tackles the matter with the flair of having very clear ideas about the path to take.
The debut album, entitled Years in Vain, contains ten very essential and direct songs through which the guys from Skopje do not invent anything new, but give back in the best possible way what has probably been the assiduous listening of the best bands in the sector; despite this, Ruststained's work does not appear didactic at all, also because a genuineness and passion that are light years away from any form of musical plasticisation shines through in every note.
The tracks follow one another with great fluidity, favoured by the good melodic impact of the guitar solos, with some truly surprising peaks of intensity and quality, such as the excellent Crude Truth, with its pleasant scents reminiscent of Sentenced and the best possible example of the good skills displayed by Ivan Kostičevski (vocals), Vedran Anovski and Stefan Cvetevski (guitars), Manuel Bogoevski (bass) and Siniša Đorđević (drums).
A pleasant surprise all the more so as it comes from a geographical area where the subgenre is not so assiduously frequented.

2024 - Independent

Ruststained

22/06/2024

SolNegre - Annihilation of the Self

The Spiral Labyrinth by the Spaniards SolNegre was one of the best death doom albums released in 2023, which is hardly surprising despite the fact that it was a debut, being the product of the talents of two musicians well established in the scene such as bassist Guillem Morey and guitarist Samuel Morales; in fact, we are talking about two founding members of Helevorn, with the former having been a member up until Compassion Forlorn and the latter having left after playing on the splendid Aamamata.
After a relatively short lapse of time, as eight months especially is in a subgenre in every sense of the word with a very compressed rhythm, the Balearic band reappears with this ep composed of a single long song plus intro, amounting to some twenty-three minutes of rare beauty.
Annihilation of the Self deals, as the title amply suggests, with themes related to the erasure of individual thought as a result of the manipulation practised by religious or political movements, and not only that (think also of the damage caused by the inability to adequately filter information on the part of a substantial segment of the population); from a musical point of view, the result is in fact a mini-concept in which the noblest sources of inspiration cited by SolNegre in their presentation (some predictable, such as Edge of Sanity, Opeth, Mi Dying Bride and Swallow The Sun others less such as Rush) are channelled into a constantly evolving and seamless musical fabric, rough and compact but, at the same time, melancholic and melodic as the best death doom should be, and whose abrupt final interruption leaves an alienating sense of emptiness.
While also highlighting the remarkable performances of vocalist Miguel Serra and drummer Tomeu Crespi, as well as the precious solos offered by guest Carolina Martín, it only remains to add that Annihilation of the Self amply demonstrates that even with the reduced overall length of an ep it is possible to offer an exhaustive work that is difficult to equal in terms of depth and intensity.

2024 - Independent

SolNegre

20/06/2024

Abyssal - Glacial

It would be reductive to simply state that Abyssal are the best Mexican band dedicated to funeral doom, as Fernando Ruiz's musical creature has been offering an effective and personal expression of the sub-genre for at least fifteen years.
Glacial is the seventh unreleased full length released by the band from Tijuana (not taking into account Misanthrope 2020) and confirms the good things already exhibited in the past, reinforcing the idea that Abyssal are today the reality that comes closest to the inescapable Bell Witch for its approach to funeral, especially if we take a look at the discography starting with Anchored from 2015; indeed, from there onwards the sound has been refined from time to time until reaching a rather high standard of quality with the notable Misanthrope (2018, then as already mentioned revised and corrected two years later) and A Deep Sea Funeral (2022).
Glacial, however, in my opinion, raises the bar even higher precisely because in this single track (a formula adopted by Ruiz since his debut) of over forty minutes with its aching progression, the ideal marriage between the fleshing out of the sound and the more canonical and heavy succession of riffs is realised; this is also why the aforementioned similarities with Dylan Desmond's band become apparent, and if the majesty of a masterpiece like Future's Shadow Part 1: The Clandestine Gate is objectively unattainable for almost all the bands engaged in funeral doom, it is necessary to strongly remark that the one exhibited by Abyssal does not result at all a faded or sweetened version of it, revealing itself if anything something very close for the sharpness with which the caducity and the oppressive and obsessive cyclicality of existence are represented.
This is why this full length deserves to be listened to and dissected by the most attentive and patient fans, who are able to appreciate once again the work of the talented musician from Baja California.

2024 - Transylvanian Recordings

Abyssal
Transylvanian Recordings

14/06/2024

Corvus Corone - The Finality of Winter

Another funeral doom solo project that has emerged in a particular way in this new decade is the one called Corvus Corone, created by Kansas City, USA-based musician White Willow; in fact, the activity already began during the last decade, but the last three works are probably the most significant, starting with Gray from 2021, Abandoned in Spring from 2022 and ending with this latest The Finality of Winter.
The subject matter is once again dealt with in a rather competent manner, and if from the first notes of the opening track Dirge for the Living Dwelling Within the Apathetic Land of the Dead one can detect a certain influence of the latest Bell Witch (even if in this case there is no waiver of guitar as in Dylan Desmond's magnificent band), it is equally true that in common there is also the courage in proposing works of a length that is frankly difficult to digest for most fans of genres other than our beloved funeral doom.
In fact, The Finality of Winter runs well over an hour and a half in length despite the fact that there are only four tracks on offer, with the concluding The Final Mournful Hymn of December to Welcome the Finality of Winter going even further than thirty minutes; this, of course, should not discourage those who love certain sounds, because White Willow proves to be a truly gifted musician, always able to offer a version of funeral that is anything but predictable, constantly poised between an atmospheric mood, with the occasional use of a vaguely monastic style of singing, and other passages close to ambient without ever being too dispersive.
Inevitably, this is a work that should be savoured with due slowness and sipped with care because of its size, but I am quite certain that anyone who approaches it with the necessary preparation will be more than satisfied with what they hear, as I struggle to find a single weak point.
Corvus Corone is a name that should definitely be held in high regard, not only because it has recently emerged but also because of its pursuit of a very personal idea of funeral doom as well as of great quality.

2024 - Independent

13/06/2024

Urza/Calliophis - Dawn of a Lifeless Age

After several years without record releases, two German bands among the most highly regarded in the funeral death doom sphere such as Calliophis and Urza join forces, proposing under the aegis of Aesthetic Death the split album Dawn of a Lifeless Age, which is very interesting as well as being of a full-bodied duration; in fact, each band proposes two unreleased tracks, all of which are longer than 10 minutes and, above all, of an excellent quality level.
Let's start with Urza, whose last and only work, The Omnipresence of Loss, dating back to 2019, contained an effective proposal based on funeral doom; in this case, the Berlin band confirms the goodness of that work with a pair of tracks with different nuances: while Maunder Minimum proves to be related to funeral from the point of view of sound, showing a slightly more melodic and atmospheric approach, the following Through Ages of Colossal Embitterment is instead a much harsher episode and also contains extensive passages oriented towards death doom; in general, these are two rather convincing tracks in which, moreover, guitarist Stefan makes his debut in the band, the only change in the line-up in the period since the last release.
Calliophis, who have already released three excellent full lengths, the last of which was Liquid Darkness in 2021, can only confirm the consolidation of the good death doom with fairly melodic traits already displayed in those circumstances; both songs, Trepak and Endure Your Depression, are decidedly convincing as well as having a certain depth, prompting me to say that these twenty minutes of music are probably the most intense among those played so far by the Saxon band.
For all these reasons, Dawn of a Lifeless Age not only proves to be a very good opportunity to test the health of the German scene, but is also proof of the not always appreciated validity of the split album format.

2024 - Aesthetic Death

CALLIOPHIS
Urza
Aesthetic Death

Mournful Sounds