Mourning Dawn: Mourning Dawn

Mourning Dawn is a black metal outfit out of France, originally conceived in 2002 by one man who goes by the name of Laurent. After a few demos and an EP he decided to add 3 members for live performances and Mourning Dawn have been a band proper since 2005, although Laurent played everything here on the self titled debut. This disc is a great example of how to successfully execute cold, bleak, atmospheric black metal and the music draws comparisons with other BM heavyweights such as Leviathan and Xasthur on the majority of these lengthy tracks. After a slow and dramatic build up of the opening track, appropriately enough titled "Intro", the listener is then taken immediately into the 14 minute epic "From The Torrent and The Fountain" which is a brutal and snarling beast complete with varying tempo changes and Laurent's guttural BM metal vocals. The next track "Grey Flood" starts off oddly enough with the scratched vinyl sounds of a ragtime piano which eventually segues into the meat and potatoes of the song. This number is actually one of the shortest on the disc at six and half minutes but it features plenty of good, heavy, melodic guitar work. "Interlude" is just that, a short atmospheric composition performed on keyboards which perfectly captures the feelings of desolation and loss. Both "When The Sky Seems To Be A Flag" and "Innocence Leaves" tip the scale at over 10 minutes each and equally reek of pain and despair as Laurent's vocals alternate between anguished screams and deep growls. If anything perfectly sums up this inspired and painful set of music, it would have to be these two tracks along with the aforementioned "From The Torrent and The Fountain". Bottom line, if you like your music cold, grim and evil then Mourning Dawn will be more than happy to indulge you with their dark soundtrack of despair.

Track Listing
1) Intro
2) From The Torrent and The Fountain
3) Grey Flood
4) Interlude
5) When The Sky Seems To Be A Flag
6) Innocence Leaves
7) As The Ocean…
8) Verdun

Added: October 17th 2007
Reviewer: Ryan Sparks
Score:
Related Link: Mourning Dawn
Hits: 2577
Language: english

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