Through the Mourning Woods

There’s obviously a typo in the title here: “though” should be “through” although I don’t think these woods over there care too much about that as they’re quite busy mourning all the fallen heroes from Viking folklore right now… so are our friends here who are giving themselves a fourth chance to start afresh. The previous two (2009, 2012) were very brief reunions largely for a couple of live appearances and not much else, but this time we witness a shining example of how determination and persistence could eventually pay off.

It’s not that the Swedish doom metal scene needs a particularly strong push at the moment with quite a few (Below, Anguish, Void Moon, Fifth to Infinity, Avatarium, Nekromant, The Doomsday Kingdom, Varha, Serpent, etc.), both old and new, ship-sinkers fully-operational, but there’s nothing wrong in seeing one of the pioneers of the doom metal idea on Swedish soil back on the road. In this case one would be intrigued to find out whether the guys (and a girl) have voted to unleash some prime antediluvian doom along the lines of the debut, or have settled for the lighter gothic rock/metal aesthetics that peppered the sophomore.

The wonderful piece of news, depending on which side of the fence you are of course, is that this album is prime antediluvian doom indeed; doom at its classic best, doom with a capital -D-, also in Cyrillic script (Д). It’s every bit as good as the “feverish” debut, a slow-burning slowmotion apocalypse which will enrapture you from the get-go and will keep you that way for the next 30 or so min… yes, this opus isn’t very long but the six mournful compositions provided will suffice to put you in a melancholic, introspective mood the opening “Blessed Be My Fallen Angel” the most dynamic track, a constant switcher between early Sabbath-esque seismicity and livelier doom/gothic rhythms with Holmberg’s sorrowful croons soaring above, the diva sounding a bit more subdued and less attached this time. With “And Time Went By” the album hits the earth-shattering 8th degree on the Richter scale and stays there till the end the band summing the best from the repertoires of Candlemass, Solitude Aeturnus, Mirror of Deception; the Italian Even Vast’s debut “Hear Me Out” is a very close soundalike as well as this effort here is even more doom-fixed-upon, the guys (and a girl) never looking astray, settling for this macabre funereal march that gets brightened, but just a bit, on the more progressively laid-out “Fields on Fire”, a grand elegiac sprawl with a male vocal accompaniment (read gruff deathy) helping Holmberg here and there.

Wow, a sigh of relief, at least from me who wasn’t sure which way the band would swing as the poppy gothic aesthetics on the sophomore didn’t enchant me as much. But since this was a most unheralded return there were hardly a handful of fans out there who were expecting this third descent; in other words, the audience was probably ready to swallow anything as long as it wasn’t some bland wave-ish/rock-ish vaudeville. Well, the band delivered, in spades at that, releasing an album which, if not exactly beating the first coming, at least matches every ounce and fibre from it.

Coincidentally or not, this recording came out on the same day as their compatriots Candlemass’ latest outing “The Door to Doom”, and it sounds way more convincing than the familiar, not very inspired doomisms of Leif Edling and Co. A timely appearance, bravo; when the leaders are losing it comes a forgotten old timer to take charge and to ride the crest of the wave for them. What are old colleagues for, after all, if not to help each other in dire times, right?

And, did I hear someone say that the Swedish doom metal scene didn’t need a push at present? Bullshit! Any scene around the world needs that, especially if that push comes from the stronger hand… the left one.