In Mourning - The Weight of Oceans
Not enough people are aware of how truly awesome Sweden’s In Mourning is. A Melodeath band that never sounds contrived, with one of the most underrated singers in the scene today. The non-poser elite amongst you will remember Tobias Netzell from his one-off gig as October Tide’s vocalist for their 2010 masterpiece, A Thin Shell (and he didn’t even get to show off his all-pro clean vocals on that one). These guys play melodic Death Metal the way you wish all bands would. The melody never robs the music of its strength, the strength never robs the melody of its misery, and they not only know when to plunge into Doomy depths but have also figured out how to inject small doses of Prog without turning everything into some Mike and the Mechanics nightmare. After two nearly flawless bodies of work (2008’s Shrouded Divine and 2010’s Monolith), the band does not disappoint on The Weight of Oceans. A nautically-themed concept album —boy, that sure has become a trendy move of late, but that’s about the meanest thing I have to say here— chock-full of moody epics that never abandon the listener’s interest. In Mourning commands any tempo and wield suicidal melody effortlessly at will. Listen to how seamlessly they transition the galloping chug of the verses to the dejected misery of the chorus on “A Vow to Conquer the Ocean.” Even when blasting at full speed, they never lose sight of their perfected majestic gloom (see the ending of “From a Tidal Sleep”), and when they feel like weaving a clean vocal ballad (“Celestial Tear”), the entrancing results are undeviating. At about 2:30 on “Convergence,” the band drop one of their patented Doom bombs from out of nowhere that leaves you completely mesmerized, only to navigate back to the original pace without missing a beat. I could go on and on, but just buy or steal this fucking thing already! Discover Sweden’s best kept secret for yourself.
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