Tolling 13 Knell

This band has been around, in one incarnation or another, since 1986, and at this point they don't have anything to prove. I'm sure many of you are familiar with this band's sound and style or their obscure discography (only three albums in 14 years, on different labels, including the Greek Unisound records - that bastion of the bizarre in black metal), but nothing that has come before can, I believe, prepare you for the expertise they unleash here.

First off, Mortuary Drape employ two bass guitarists, and when listening to this record you have to adjust your hearing or faculties of interpretation slightly in order to understand what's going on. Not only does most of the melodic work in these songs occur in the lower registers, courtesy of the bass guitars, but the bass lines are placed in the listening space in the positions usually occupied by the regular guitars: one on the left, one on the right, with the guitar in the middle of the mix. The basses play through a bewildering array of ringing chord progressions, single note runs, and droning full chord soundings. The bass tones here color the overall effect - they add an entire new dimension to the band's range and melodic potential in that they open up untapped resources of sound. When listening to this album, I can't help but think of this as an 'occult' sound, meaning that the bass guitars, ringing together (or at times played in beautiful harmonies - you have to hear them to believe it), set up novel patterns of vibration that sound almost 'spectral': mystical, enchanting, mesmerizing... this fits in very well with the arching theme of this record: the tolling of bells, a dark celebration, a religious annunciation.

Moreover, every single song on this album is a separate and distinct entity unto itself. Moving from Mercyful Fate-like classic heavy metal to pounding, percussive 'traditional' black metal to speed metal to their own variations on all of the above, this band does not claim any allegiance to one style or genre and can seemingly move effortlessly between all of them. This is very refreshing to hear. The only criteria that I think this band pays attention to is the simple one of expediency: i.e., what works for them in the given context. Each song's theme calls for a different treatment or series of references and allusions, and so gets the requisite style it deserves. I believe that this ability of theirs to move between so many different styles and forms of metal while making it all somehow sound native to their own element must be a result of their wide experience. Not many bands have this deep a well of skill or can display this level of compositional technique. There are so many excellent melodies and riffing segments on this album that it openly invites repeated listenings to absorb it all. At the time of this review, I have spun this thing more than half a dozen times and I still can't manage to grasp the significance of every part of this. What I do know is that this is probably one of the most original releases I've heard in a long time.

I could probably go on and on writing about all of the things that this album makes me think of, all the questions it opens up in my mind... but what's the use? I urge you to listen to it for yourself.

UA

Erebus Magazine
http://erebuszine.blogspot.com

Tolling 13 Knell is the 3rd full length album from this Italian black metal band. I think that this album shows a few different sides to Mortuary Drape, and is their best album. The music is dark and complex, with a feeling of malevolence all throughout. I can’t in recent memory think of a band that captures the feeling of early Mercyful Fate quite as well as this band does. This is Mortuary Drape at their most creative and avant-garde in my opinion.

The music as stated above is a blend of Mercyful Fate and Celtic Frost with a dose of that Hellenic black metal sound (Rotting Christ, Varathron) thrown in. This does not sound like your typical Norwegian black metal band, Mortuary Drape hardly plays fast, this is mostly mid paced. The guitar work is solid, there are some nice leads and acoustic guitars thrown in for added atmosphere. The bass can be heard loud and clear, it has a nice thick tone and packs a punch!

The mix on this is very weird it sounds like it was recorded in a cave, everything has a ton of reverb on it. I love the production on this that feeling of malevolence is captured perfectly here! I am really impressed with I.O.R.R. Will Revealed, his drum work is awesome it never gets boring. The vocals are raspy and very distinct, Wildness Perversion’s voice sounds like someone taking their last breath! On certain tracks Wildness Perversion does this weird howl, kind of like King Diamond did on On a Night of Full Moon off of Return of the Vampire. Speaking of King Diamond, Wildness Perversion does his best King Diamond impression on a couple of tracks.

If I was forced to pick out some weaknesses of this album I would definitely say that those King Diamond impressions I mentioned above should have been omitted. They sound goofy and distract you from the atmosphere, I don’t see the reason to howl like a wolf in the middle of a driving song like The Last Supper. Also, I think that some more keyboards should have been added to really push the ambiance over the top.

I really cannot recommend this album enough. If you want a unique black metal experience then pick this up, you’ll be very glad you did.

One of the very finest of Italy's truly cult metal acts, Mortuary Drape has been exorcising their morbid brand of occult black and death for over two decades now.

Tolling 13 Knell is their third full-length, released around the turn of the century, and one I've recently gone back to enjoy. A grim atmosphere highlights the production, yet the instruments are fairly clear and present in the mix, almost as if they were jamming in the same room as you. The vocals of 'Wildness Perversion', however, are doused in enough reverb to make them just creepy enough.

I've always liked to think that Mortuary Drape occupied a rather unique spot in metal, that which lies between the horror aesthetic of the great Italian directors (Argento, Fulci, and many others) and the true roots black/death metal of bands like Celtic Frost and Possessed. And when you think about it, these guys were already around in those days!

The majority of the tracks here are of good quality, provided you like audible bass guitar, creepy yet simple guitar riffing which recalls the occult thrash metal that later evolved into black and death metal. Occasional psychedelic acoustic guitars are used to round out the vibe here, as in the intro to "Laylah", and the band has a tendency to skirt the edge of doom during slower parts of tracks like "The Last Supper" and "Birth's End". Other tracks are highly atmospheric and original, like the eerie "Not Still Born (The Unborn Plane)". It's a great album overall, and one of their best alongside Secret Sudaria.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

Bands like Mortuary Drape are a rare breed. They are one of the very few bands that have gone through a large number of lineup changes, almost from album to album, and continued to release quality material. ‘Tolling 13 Knell’ is no exception, and in fact, I would go as far as to say that it’s just as good as their ’92-’96 period material, and that is saying a lot. Mortuary Drape were never ones to repeat themselves though, so of course this album is far different then the material from that era. There isn’t a single detail within the album’s framework that seems out of place or forced, but considering the fact that this is Mortuary Drape, you should not expect anything less.

One of the first things that stuck out to me was the album’s odd production. Usually, in metal at least, the bass and drums are panned in the center, while two guitar tracks take up either side. Well that is not the case here, and actually it’s the exact opposite. Instead of a single bass track that is dead center, they actually double track the bass, one channel panned to the left and the other to the right, while the guitar is actually the centerpiece in the mix. The vocals have lots of reverb on them and are pushed up high enough in the mix to allow their full, darkened force to be heard with clarity. The drums were obviously recorded with several microphones around the kit so every single drum and cymbal is heard equally, which is perfect considering how fucking phenomenal the drumming on this album is.

Ever since the band’s inception in 1986, only one member has stayed in the band throughout its existence, and this one person none other then Wildness Perversion, who has also taken care of drum and keyboard duties in the past. But on here he just focuses on vocals, and actually it works for the better, as this is his most impressive performance yet. He incorporates lots of variation into his delivery on here, and really proves that he is one of the finest vocalists to have ever graced the metal genre as a whole. While still using his old mid/low-range death growl, he mixes it up with lots of higher rasps, eerie whispers, and the occasional clean howls. He can switch from style to style from one section to the next, which is exactly what an album like this requires, as this is some of the most diverse and eclectic black metal I’ve ever heard.

Like everything else on the album, the riffing is utterly phenomenal, as is the performance in which these riffs are carried by. When it comes to black metal, you really won’t find anyone else writing better riffs then these guys. Unlike most black metal, Mortuary Drape rarely uses exclusively tremolo-picked riffs. In fact, they take their ability to write extraordinarily varied riffs with lots of different techniques and completely shit in the mouths of everyone who lists Darkthrone and Gorgoroth as their main influences. Another rarely-found trait on here is that the guitar and bass don’t follow each other note-for-note, and actually venture off into their own worlds from time to time. The bass has a very clean and rich tone to it, which does wonders for the overall mood, as it reinstates that the band is going more for atmosphere and eeriness rather then heaviness. The guitar has a thin, cold tone, which although is a bit low in the mix, still provides the essential amount of sinister melody that the bass is there to back up.

Out of all the Mortuary Drape releases, ‘Tolling 13 Knell’ contains the most impressive drum performance, which I feel, being a drummer myself, really does a lot for an album. Some albums can make sloppiness work, but ‘Tolling 13 Knell’ just wouldn’t be the same if it weren’t for this “I.O.R.R. Will Revealed” (what a name) character. He never once resorts to a blast beat, not just because this album doesn’t call for it, but also because he knows how to take the same amount of aggressiveness a well-done blast beat can contain and transform it into something jaw-dropping by adding some technical flair, 6-handed cymbal trickery, impeccable double bass, and some massive tom fills. This is the kind of album that incorporates lots of dynamics into its song structures too, and this drummer knows a thing or two about how to use this to full effect, and how to keep the band going forward within the dynamic development. This is a hard task for some, but he obviously had no trouble with it.

So after an element-by-element analysis, I’ve reached the conclusion that this is indeed a flawless masterpiece. Mortuary Drape have reached levels of darkened black metal mastery that no one else other then them can achieve in this day and age, and this, along with almost everything else they’ve ever done, will go down in history as one of black metal’s finest achievements.