Dawning

Mindrot came from sunny California, but it didn't bother them for being one of the most credible bands in presenting true tedious emotions in their music. At first, this album was partly extremely inviting yet partly extremely forbidding. It was clear, that this music came from hearts of these five men. It wasn't an instant hit and I never got their second and last album 'Soul' (1998) or other stuff. And now it all is so bloody hard to be found...

During these eight years I've grown to the album. More you see in your life, more you feel. I guess I've had tedious periods in my life, but it is easy to believe I haven't seen anything truly bad when listening to 'Dawning'. The music is about depressive and stressful emotions; hate, fear, anguish, loss, yearning, loneliness, crumbling expectations. I can relate to all of them nowadays. Mindrot's metal is as varying as are the emotions in it. Funeral doom, melancholic movements and brutal death metal are the band's feelings conjured into music. Some of the music is beautiful, but not truly warm, as it shouldn't be anyways for what it pictures. Some of the music is angry, some truly clausrophobic, some off-putting. This can bring me to tears or make me bang my head violently or drown me into my thoughts. The music is wonderfully composed. It builds up like real life situations. It slowly lingers into something truly foul, it attacks violently without a warning, it goes on and on, like you really could forget something but you never will. The songs are linked with samples or sound effects, giving an impression of being one course of life.

The performance is simply perfect. It is not polished, but it has to be this way. The band is like one huge, Lovercraftian entity. Every person is one of the entity's essential organ. Vocalist Adrian Leroux portraits every emotion well. He growls, shouts and screams venomously or fearfully. Sometimes he sings about, for example, loss in brink of losing it and reminds me of David Bowie and Tom Waits. His band mates handle some backing vocals and it makes this awesome, as shouting, screaming and growling can be heard at the same time. Guitarists John Flood (also some synths) and Dan Kaufman play fragile acoustics, distorted tapestry, ripping yet thick riffing, whatever thing is suitable for any point. Bassist Matt Fisher does the same with his instrument, sometimes calmly, sometimes with distortion. Drummer Evan Kilbourne play anything from a solid rhythm to primitive, soulful beats and windchimes. The Jim Barnes production together with the band is heavy, organic and rich with a truly wide soundscape. This must be one of the heaviest album I have, both production- and emotionwise. Graphically, this utilizes an usual doom metal motif, which is cherubs accompanying a woman (three times used in these covers!), probably photographed from a tombstone or something. It is kept simple, so the music is the most important thing here. Lyrics are printed.

At first, 'Dawning' felt "partly great, partly bad", but now it has become a classic. This is one rare occasion, where the music portraits emotions perfectly. It can be heard, that 'Dawning' came from the souls of these five men, known as Mindrot. Doom and death metal utilized as they should be utilized. Such a total experience.

(Written for ArchaicMetallurgy.com in 2003)

I've often said that doom metal is a genre that doesn't exist without an extra adjective, be it death/doom, funeral doom, traditional doom, or what have you. Mindrot's 'Dawning' is one of the few albums I think I can describe as simply 'doom metal', as no other adjective can be paired with it logically. The growls and heavier than usual riffing might suggest a doom/death fusion, but this lacks both the romance of My Dying Bride and the oppression of Winter- in fact, the style of this release is rather unusual and stands on its own, the only approximation to it being the sole full length by much later band Nex. It's quite a curious release and definitely a departure from Relapse's typical catalog; more surprisingly, it's a pretty strong (if rather forgotten) doom album that points to a lot of places the genre could have gone but basically left behind.

What this album really sounds like is an older, less melodramatic, and less funereal version of current scene lovelies Ea; it has a similar sense of grandiose melody alongside a strikingly similar sense of sort of spastic, almost tribal drumming. The band is fond of its big held chords along with watery acoustic/clean sections, but it's hard to pin down any logical influences; the melodic sense is clearly derived substantially from slower death metal bands, but the curious melodic digressions suggest some non-metal influences that aren't immediately apparent. The way the tracks patiently unfold is also an odd thing to witness: look at 'Internal Isolation' and its languishing opening before descending into what is basically full-fledged thrash for a good example of this album's weirdness. Fast passages like this are infrequent but definitely an important component of this release's music, suggesting that the goal of this album is a little more abstract than just 'doom metal'. The growling vocals bring bands like Grief to mind, but the drums are another curiosity, being very technically proficient but not necessarily flashy, seeming to emphasize an almost endless series of fills over steady beats. It certainly makes for an odd listening experience when set against the more straightforward sense of riffcraft at play.

The mid-'90s production is a little smothered but has enough reverb to give the instruments adequate room to breathe, along with the songwriting which is anything but rushed. Mindrot is excellent at using their odd sense of percussion to give more live to riffs which would be easily driven into the ground were they supported by a more straightforward rhythmic delivery. The vocals appear to be used as a rhythmic piece as well, with multiple vocal tracks emerging and disappearing during the simpler sections of riffing. The mood of this release is another aspect difficult to precisely describe; it's archaic and vast but not necessarily occult or romantic; it feels like the album is written in an ancient tome somewhere and you're unsure of whether its intricate scribblings were made for good or evil purposes. If nothing else, it's a refreshingly nuanced take on a style that's typically rather polarizing.

This is not a very immediately listenable or catchy album, but it does most certainly bring more to the table with every listen. I'm still not entirely sure I get this album completely, but after five or so listens, its ideas are starting to dawn on me a little bit more. 'Dawning' is quite an unusual record, though appropriate for the timeframe of its composition, and is probably a worthwhile release to investigate by fans of mid-'90s extreme metal curios. Despite its age and relative obscurity, this isn't a particularly difficult release to track down, so fans of the more convoluted, odd parts of the metal scene are advised to give this one a few listens.

Mindrot are a California based Doom band who came about just prior to the 90's. "Dawning" was their first full legth, following the immaculate EP "Forlorn." This CD contains 2 of the 3 tracks also found on that EP. The CD starts out with probably the best intro I have ever heard. A simple theory of building of instruments and patterns layer upon layer, that leads to a very powerful opening. Mindrot waste no time in jumping right into the swing of things with the mid-paced tune "Anguish." Next comes the rather eclectic "Burden," interlaid with repetetive audio clips. 'WIthersoul" and "Forlorn" are probably the two heaviest and the greatest two tracks on the CD. These were both originally found on the EP as well. "Withersoul" features some tortured vocals and some hauting melodies with a powerhouse chorus riff. "Forlorn" starts off slow but has some devestating guitar work in it. Probably the slowest song on the album, with sludge like stlye and hate spewed lyrics. "Internal Isolation" features alot of strange song break-ups with audio clips, eerie keyboard chords and quiet Tom beats on the drums. There seem to be a lot of experimental effects used on the guitars and bass in this song as well. The closer, "Across Vast Oceans," is a mostly acoustic tune that culminates the mood of the album and the genre itself. An excellent release, recommended to any new doom fans and veterans of the genre alike.