AN NCS PREMIERE: MOURNER — “COBWEB OF CAPTIVITY”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Jun 262019
 

 

With a name like Mourner, a musical genre described as doom/death, and a debut album entitled Apogee of Nihility, one might expect the music created by this Russian trio to be a relentless descent into dragging oppressiveness and the extinguishment of hope. To be sure, they have a sure-handed talent for creating sensations of gloom and anguish, but what really sets their music apart is how multi-faceted and utterly captivating it turns out to be.

The song we’re presenting today, “Cobweb of Captivity“, is a stellar example of Mourner’s dynamic talents, a constantly changing and ultimately enthralling sequence of movements that merits that perhaps over-used phrase “a musical journey”. Continue reading »

RITUAAL

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  4 Responses »
May 212013
 

What drew my attention to Rituaal were the band’s members: They consist of guitarist/vocalist Justin Stubbs from Father Befouled and Encoffination, drummer Jake Rothlisberger from Nashville’s Mourner, and vocalist/guitarist Mike Meacham from Loss — killer bands, all of them. That trio formed Rituaal a little over a year ago and recorded two songs in September 2012 that will be released as a 7″ vinyl EP by Portland’s Parasitic Records this summer. Recently, Rituaal put up both songs for streaming on Bandcamp — “Ordo Walpurga” and “Datura at the Astral Sabbat”.

Imagine a musical black hole deep in a gravity well that’s inexorably sucking all light and matter down into its powerful vortex, and that will give you some sense of “Ordo Walpurga”. It’s a massive, groaning dirge of distorted chords and ponderous drum and cymbal hits, emanating a morbid melody and echoing with the cavernous roars and disemboweling shrieks of the vocalists.

“Datura at the Astral Sabbat” vibrates with unholy blackened energy. What begins as a ritualized chant of abraded vocals and thumping percussion accelerates into a buzz of tremolo-picked guitars and then slows to a crawl, still shrouded in distortion and breathing with the life of shimmering occult melody. This trade-off between ghastly doom/death and blackened misery continues until this beast gasps its last horrific sound. Continue reading »