Mournful Congregation
The June FrostWeird Truth Productions
2009
Mournful Congregation are certainly one of, if not Australia's best doom/death metal band. Their music is slow, yet aggressive and emotional. I recently got into these guy thanks to a friend of mine, and just this year, they've released their third full length album titled The June Frost.
The June Frost is considered to be their best work sofar, from what I've heard from other fans of this band, and after hearing some of their earlier stuff, including the double album "The Dawning Of Mournful Hymns" (which is also excellent), I'd be incline to agree. This band has grown heaps, and they certainly do keep getting better, with this album, it's 8 songs of pure metal doom.
"White Cold Wrath Burnt Frozen Blood" is one of my favourite tracks from the album, and the longest at 17 mins. Part of it includes an awesome harmonized melody with acoustic guitar and the usual deep vocals that are featured on this album. This is the doom I'd been waiting for, but hadn't realised yet. It doesn't get much better than this song. Some side guitar that reminds me a little of Opeth pops up here aswell, which sees this song off to an end. Very thought inducing and emotional playing here, as it is with the rest of this album.
The album is very diverse in it's style of doom, with a few instrumental pieces. The title song of the album, "The June Frost" is one of those instrumentals which features solos playing over an acoustic guitar, which pretty much proves that this band can do more than one thing for an entire album, which is rarely seen in some bands these days. It's a curious song that seems to use mainly major sounding scales and chords, yet it invokes the same feeling on despair as the other songs on this record. The contrast between this type of playing and the slow doom of the other songs is quite interesting in itself.
This is a very impressive album, with many interesting and well written musical ideas. The mixture of heavy and soft is pulled of with amazing precision. The production of the album is also spotless. It sounds absolutely awesome! What I find to be the most interesting thing about this band, is after some 15 years of being around, they only just did their debut live performance this year. It's definitely a great time to get into this band, with an European tour supporting Mourning Beloveth coming up this April to follow-up this album's release.
The June Frost will mark a very important spot for Australian metal, with much recognition following in it's wake. Definitely an album worth buying, and Mournful Congregation are definitely a band worth seeing live (keep an eye out for a live review coming soon).
Mournful Congregation - The June Frost
Solemn Strikes The Funeral Chime
Descent Of The Flames
White Cold Wrath Burnt Frozen Blood
The June Frost
A Slow March To The Burial
The Februar Winds
Suicide Chior
The Wreath
Playing Time: 60 mins
www.myspace.com/mournfulcongregation
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