Monolith

It's quite hard to improve on a work as solid as "Shrouded Divine", which for me is one of the greatest metal albums to ever be made, but since the first time I heard In Mourning I knew these musicians had enough talent to make fantastic, original music, and I won't say they disappointed me with "Monolith", but I can't say that I was completely satisfied with it either.

Just as "Shrouded Divine" and future releases, "Monolith" is a conceptual album which seems to kind of follow its predecessor. The music hasn't change too much from the last album, and that's something I did find underwhelming, because the songs present in this release are like washed-up versions of their older ones. Don't get me wrong here, these songs are quite good, but they don't have the same atmosphere or feeling that some songs like "The Black Lodge" or "The Shrouded Divine" had, they are melodic and technical, and they still have unconventional song structures and various, heavy riffs accompanied by distorted arpeggios and octave chords, as well as lead riffs, but as I said, the sad, melancholic atmosphere in those songs isn't as present as in the ones from "Shrouded Divine". There are some really nice stuff here and there, such as the chorus of "The Poet and the Painter of Souls" for example or the post-chorus for "For You to Know" with that calm, bluesy part, but I've heard many concepts and even riffs taken from previous compositions and modified, which isn't exactly bad, as every single band out there as probably recycled riffs and licks, but once again, knowing what the members of this band were and are capable of doing, I think that was uncalled for.

Moving on, I've found some things that, at least for me, don't fit too well with the album, like the first verse of "For You to Know", which uses those raspy vocals, which remind me a bit of some of those electro-hardcore bands, and things like that kind of ruin the atmosphere for these songs. Another thing that I have to criticize is how much octave chords are used to harmonize and create melodies, and that gets a bit repetitive after some songs, but there aren't many ways to create good-sounding melodies with a guitar without it sounding weak, so I gotta let that pass (I use octaves like a motherfucker when I compose, so yeah, I'm a bit of a hypocrite).

Something that I've never actually noted in any of my (at the time) 2 reviews for this band, is how the manage to do progressive, technical music with so many time signature changes, switching between 4/4, 3/4, 5/4, 8/12 and some others, with these unconventional structures which are a bit confusing, and yet make all of this accessible to the average metal listener, you don't get confused while listening to this, nor you feel weird when you hear riffs in 5/4, because all these time signature changes and even scale changes are so well implemented that you just don't notice them.

Yet another thing that I feel like it's important to note and that is one of the reasons why I didn't rate this album a %100, is how forgettable it is; I can remember some specific parts of some songs (mainly because they are either catchy or I liked them), but I sometimes can't remember half of these songs, not even the intros or sometimes the names, and I've heard this release at least 3 times and heard many of the songs of it in shuffle through playlists or at random moments, and I rarely can remember many things. Maybe I'm just not actually paying attention to the music, or it's because the songs get a bit boring due to a lack of consistency to deliver enjoyable parts, and it sometimes do be like that; the songs can go from a melodic, energetic part to a calm interlude, which works similar to a build-up which climaxes in the end of the song, but at that point you end up a bit disappointed, or at least I do.

Now, reading the lyrics, they are quite good, pure poetry that tries to tell a story; there are some really awesome verses like "Scared of never seeing you again / But I never knew you anyway" (For You to Know) or "Everything is words in a poet's mind / And the teller of his tales, are deaf and blind" (The Poet and the Painter of Souls). The lyrical genius of Tobias Netzell (who I guess writes this) is one that I could never even dream of, he's light years ahead of me and many other really good lyricists, maybe I'm exaggerating here, but not even some of the highly acclaimed poets I've read wrote stuff like that; these lyrics are something between a well manufactured literature and poetry, dark and dramatic, this album (and all others from this band) plays like a book thanks to these lyrics, a book you must hear and feel to understand it, instead of reading it.

To go finishing this review (which is definitely the longest one I wrote so far), the audio quality is very nice, no fuck-ups in the performance, maybe there are some instruments in the mix that are quite low, the bass for an example isn't as present as in "Shrouded Divine", and sometimes some guitars are a bit obscure by the heavy rhythm riffs, but it was all probably planned to fit with the atmosphere of the songs.

Even thought I showed a bit of discontent with some stuff in this album, I think it's a pretty solid work, but not for what this band can do; if you never heard of this band, you can definitely go check it out and start by this album (although I'd seriously suggest to listen to Shrouded Divine first), it's not the best thing In Mourning has to offer but it's still years ahead of most metal bands in my opinion.

A couple years after the masterful Shrouded Divine, In Mourning decided to take a more Opeth-influenced approach to their progressive melodic death affairs. While Opeth meander with a lot of writing going nowhere, In Mourning keep it precise and enjoyable. This leads to another batch of songs that, while not rivaling Shrouded Divine in melancholic atmosphere, do cater to fans of melodic death and melodic death / doom with ease and freshness. The compositions, as great as they are, don’t implode on themselves from an abundance of ideas. This is where Opeth fail hard, but In Mourning once again keeps it to the point with burly riffs, (at most) triple harmonies, and a fantastically gloomy atmosphere. It may seem like there’s enough melodic death already, but Monolith comes at it from an angle that isn’t from the same tired breed.

Netzell the same year did growls on October Tide’s A Thin Shell and in 2009 with Shrouded Divine. The man’s growls don’t hold any doubt, with their truncated grunting clear and corrupt. He also does higher, coarser growls / screams that share time with the rougher grunts. That makes two styles that he’s already nailed since he began his music career. A third one comes into play, which are his cleans, and compared to Shrouded Divine they’re damn good. Shrouded Divine I had to grow accustomed to because they were a little amateurish and experimental, while on Monolith Netzell is giving some depressed, mournful clean singing that expands the mood and flavor of each song they’re present on. They aren’t as common as the growling, but they are very rich and add depth to an album that would obviously be missing something vital. “The Smoke” is a prime example of the album’s ability to switch between the aggressive assaults of despondent riffs and the shred of optimism from the lavish clean sections (not abused in the harsh verse / clean chorus manner in any way - don’t get the wrong idea).

The clean production keeps the music from sounding too loud or overly modern. Instruments are all heard well together, and nothing overlaps to take out another instrument. Monolith, like the debut, is a warm album, so the instruments don’t give any chilly vibe. The strumming of the guitars and bass and the bashing of the drums create a dark atmosphere, sure, but the album is friendly since it’s so easy on the ears. Nothing’s brutal, but nothing’s melodramatic; the right balance is met. Riffs come from thrash, death, rock, and progressive metal, and next to those gruff riffs is the humble grumbling of the bass providing necessary fatness to the music. Few keyboard sections that enhance the eerie nature of the songs exist. Much of the melodies are thankfully given to the guitars, which drip with very doomy fervor and emotion. Drumming rolls and fills as one would expect with slow, mid-paced, and fast doom-influenced melodic death. Blast beats do show up, but are very rare, and instead let whatever the rhythm is dictate the type of drumming that would be effective. The drum kit (and this is very personal praise) isn’t tocky or thin, like a lot of bands tend to do. Modern bands up the volume on everything, but don’t fix the snare sounds, so there’s a mix between brutality and a tock-tock-tock snare drum (very irritating). In Mourning don’t go for that, so all the instruments sound as sincere and cuddly as they should.

Nearly an hour’s worth of despairing metal that’d get some love from fans that even border liking any of the genres of doom / death, death, melodic death, and progressive death. To see Monolith get shunned as much as it does is painful, even if I, too, believe it is inferior to Shrouded Divine. It’s a better album than people make it out to be, even while taking some more influences in and branching out. It won’t cover new grounds, but new compositions such as these do have something of value to offer.

In Mourning is a Swedish Progressive Death Metal band which was formed in Falun in the year 2000. I was introduced to them a couple of years ago by their 2006 demo 'Grind Denial' which has actually drawn my attention easily and lead me then to their debut 'Shrouded Divine'. I really liked the band; rather okay Death Metal with a skillful touch of progression, vehement Death Metal vocals, touching clean vocals, tight drumming, atmosphere, fine riffs...etc. Even if you didn't like the music, you would have to admit In Mourning is a good band.

Then came this year - 2010 - with In Mourning hitting again, this time with 'Monolith'. I was so excited about it that I heard it as soon as it was out on the official In Mourning website. Honestly, I did expect better, but the album as a whole is good.

Monolith came way too melodic and somehow rather more mild than 'Shrouded Divine', still it strongly maintains the In Mourning musical style. In addition, it shows some great aspects of the band. The performance fairly deserves 10/10; I consider this almost flawless, Tobias Netzell is doing a great job on vocals and guitars, Bjorn Pettersson and Tim Nedergard as well are showing great guitar skills, Pierre Stam and Christian Netzell on bass and drums respectively are doing a very well job as well sustaining the harmony. You could barely criticize a single point about the band's performance on 'Monolith'. The songwriting is somehow Katatonia-influenced in that storytelling style. The fact that most of the songs on the album tell different stories is consistent to the genre, though I didn't like the lyrics on some tracks, especially 'For You To Know'. Drumming on the whole album was good, and remarkably good on 'The Poet And The Painter Of Souls' and 'The Final Solution (Entering The Black Lodge)'. Vocals as well are a great remark on this album, being fairly brutal and inhumanly synchronized to the changes in guitar riffs. Clean vocals are adding an In Mourning trademarked beauty to the record, this was clearly manifested on 'The Smoke'.

Overall, this is not In Mourning's best - yet still another solid record that deserves appreciation from a promising band that has a lot of potential to be shown on further work

Highlights: Debris, The Poet And The Painter Of Souls, A Shade Of Plague.

-Karim.

If you like melancholic metal with just enough catchiness to keep your attention enthralled, then In Mourning's "Monolith" will certainly appease. Hailing from Sweden, the band has released several demos and a full length debut before releasing this album. What fans can expect to find is a very complex, progressive doomy death metal opus. There's a lot of melody here and structure akin to Old Man's Child, one of the leading melodic black metal bands of Norway. Listen to a lot of the chugging riffs from the opening track, "For You To Know", and you'll understand. The guitars change from chugging, condensed assaults to slower, more melodic passages that might be heard from an Opeth album. The drums are a pretty constant pace; fast and aggressive. The vocals change between a mid paced black metal snarl to some deeply emotional growls as well as some clean vocals. The clean vocals are by far not the best side of the band, but the growls more than make up for them.

At different times there's even some good rock or thrash riffs thrown into "Monolith". "Debris" opens up with some riffs that reminisce Metallica before transversing into some of the heavier death metal melodies that are usually recognizable, and as always, there's a very quiet, gothic interlude to let the melancholy set in before things start blasting away again. "The Smoke" is by far the best song on the album because it is so varied and catchy. Ninety percent of the riffs are downright fantastic and nothing goes on for too long before becoming monotonous. For some reason, in the middle of the song, the clean vocals actually sound decent. Perhaps the vocalist has finally found the right pitch for the music? Aside from that the track also features some really great guitar melodies for the last quarter of the song that sound really well with the echoing death metal vocals.

Death metal obviously is what dominates In Mourning's style, but there's also a lot of progressive moments. "Pale Eye Revelation" has some interesting guitar styles that sound almost like keyboards; very Dream Theater-esque. As said before, the other quieter interludes where only the guitars can be heard picking out strings are the other progressive elements, though they fall still in the death metal category. "The Final Solution" has the longest interlude, and due to its epic length, also has the most resemblance to Opeth, with even a little bit of what could be some jazz flair in the way the guitars chug near the end of the song. Expect a grandiose exit to "Monolith" with this one.

In Mourning still know how to deliver their death metal, seeing as how they've been together for fifteen years with few lineup changes. Fans of Rapture, Septic Flesh, Agalloch, and of course, Old Man's Child will find all sorts of relations in the music style and hopefully enjoy it very much. Every song is varied and holds a riff or beat different from the others, and that is why "Monolith" is certainly a masterpiece.

Written for www.brutalism.com

In Mourning's popularity exploded with debut "Shrouded Divine" and I was shocked to like a band with so many of the tendencies I usually despise. Heavy melodeath influence? Check. Modern progressiveness? Check. Start and stop grooves? Check. The album still had enough tasteful songwriting and feeling to mostly make a fan. And now, on to the album I'm actually writing about.

"For You To Know" starts out with a riff that's fairly typical for this band. A chuggy, rhythmic one with some melodic guitars on top. The quality of these tends to range from good to kinda vapid but this one is definitely cool. Unfortunately he goes in to a horrible vocal style in the chorus. Abrasive semi-clean vocals in the same tone that completely ruins "The Black Lodge" on the last record. The background melody is pretty cool, so the vocal idiocy is unfortunate. Rest of the song is pretty good, especially for being so heavily Opeth influenced. Bands these days who imitate them tend to suck rather hard, but here it's done without any major downfalls. Musically this song gives me good hopes for the rest of the disc.

Tracks two and three are unfortunately nothing to write home about. Despite starting out pretty good, "Debris" turns into a journey into modern progressive metal that is challenging in all the wrong ways. Some parts are good, and some parts are utter shit very comparable to the latest Opeth outputs. The songwriting that so often was fluid, tasteful and memorable on the debut is thrown out the window here. Fans of "Watershed" will likely shit their pants over this though. Track three follows the pattern, totally without reedeming parts, and the rhythm wankery mostly comes off as annoying.

Luckily "Monolith" has "The Smoke" which would fit right in on the debut. The difference from the other tracks just seems to be focus. This song craves the listeners attention, has drive and most of all good structure. The riffs and tempos fit together like a song, it's not just starts and stops between every part. And like the best track on the first album, "By Others Considered", the song goes into calm mode with the soothing emotional clean vocal style Tobias Netzell performs so well. Last four tracks are basically the same quality as track two and three, featuring the same downsides.

"Monolith" isn't bad, but I know this band could do so much better. In terms of how production, vocals and instruments are on here the bands hasn't changed much from the debut. It's mostly an annoying lack of focus in the songwriting department that holds them back. It's disappointing to see a band with obvious potential for something better dwell too much in Opeth land. Get "The Smoke" and "For You To Know" and ignore the rest.

The first comparison I would draw when listening to the sophomore effort of Swedish In Mourning was their extremely popular countrymen Opeth, clearly an influence here on the expressive, drawn out compositional style, or the Travis Smith cover painting. The extremely full, to the point of overpowering death metal vocals over the melodic subtleties and grooving guitar rhythms remind me a lot of Mikael Åkerfeldt, but the band also uses a more snarling tone. There are also some other differences, for example In Mourning is far more into the creation of a simple groove laden in a pretty guitar melody, using only a few notes to paint their emotion, whereas Opeth would write something far more complex (and frankly, often boring).

I found this sophomore effort Monolith to be an exercise in both peaks and valleys, for while there are at least two tracks I can recall to be rather amazing, the remainder of the material was fairly forgettable, aside from perhaps one or two hooks in each song. The band uses a lot of basic pit chugging in tunes like "For You to Know" and "The Smoke", and while this is in effect to offset the more graceful melody careen across the backdrop, it rarely compels more than a basic interest in getting through the track to the next. But there is a lot more capability than I'm making it out to sound, as the band are well versed in a myriad of tempos, leads, and glistening streams of high notes that rarely fail to conjure atmosphere. The powerful melodic line that fuels the chugging of "Debris", for example, is crushing and woeful, recalling the power of mid 90s Amorphis, and this is one of the finer tracks on this record. "Pale Eye Revelation" and "With You Came Silence" are also breathtaking works of beautiful gloom, unforgettable streaming melodies and crescendos of passionate aggression, often collapsing into sheer melo-doom.

I mentioned a 'first' comparison above, because I have two more I'd like to make. I truly feel that fans of the Finnish bands Noumena and Insomnium would do well to check out this band, in particular if they enjoyed the latest effort from the latter, Across the Dark, which has a very similar feel to this, with huge circular hooks and fetching melodies that wail below the huge wall of vocal force. I don't feel this band are quite so good at the style as Insomnium, but the consistencies of mood and production are comparable. Further proof that there is life and a realm of expanded possibility beyond the energetic melodic death of the At the Gates/In Flames/Dark Tranquillity that ruled up until the mid-'oughts, In Mourning have crafted a pretty dense sophomore effort which trumps their debut.

Highlights: Debris, Pale Eye Revelation, With You Came Silence

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com