Artist: Grieving Age
Title: In Aloof Lantern, Thy Bequeathed a Wailer Quietus
Type: Album
Label: Self Released
Saudi Arabia is renowned for many things. Oil. Deserts. Camel racing. Of all the things that spring to mind, Doom metal is definitely not one of them. Grieving Age are just that though, and very accomplished it is too. When you add the endorsement of none other than My Dying Bride’s Aaron Stainthorpe, who incidentally provided the cover art, and Bloodbath’s Dan Swano, who mixed and mastered this, their debut full length album, you know that this is a band to be taken seriously.
Despite this being touted as a full length album, the curiously titled ‘In Aloof Lantern, Thy Bequeathed a Wailer Quietus’ contains just two tracks, yet it manages to weigh in at a little under 40 minutes long. Opening track, the equally curiously titled ‘A Quadrennial Dame Pyres, Hearses Shall No Yawn, Thence’ is a 20 minute trudge through miserable fields. Musically, there are heavy influences of My Dying Bride, circa ‘As The Flower Withers’, as would be expected, with the down tuned guitars of Ghassan and Diya ploughing a slow, distorted furrow, whilst drummer Emad Mujalled sounds as if he has to play in slow motion. Let there be no doubt about it, this is seriously heavy doom, and played well. The one thing that makes this a very challenging listen is Ahmed Shawli’s vocals, which need some improvement. His death growls are formidable and tinged with misery and despair, but they sound strained and forced, which combined with the heavy accent, and a lack of variation over the course of the song, it makes for a difficult listen. The second and final track, the even more curiously named, ‘Therefore, a Myriad of Gargoyles Bellow Their Aborted Versicles, Quoth Thee…’, evokes thoughts of ‘The Dreadful Hours’, especially considering the heavy, almost thrashy section after four minutes. Once again the problem here is the track is seventeen minutes long, and it runs out of steam long before that, and again is hampered by Ahmed’s vocal, where rather than anguish it sounds like constipation after about eight minutes.
There is much to laud about Grieving Age. From a nation and a culture where metal is all but non-existent, these guys have the talent and the ability necessary to break down the barriers and open people’s eyes to a whole new means of expression. There are a few things that need work, but if they can do that, especially on the vocal side, then I for one will be looking forward to hearing more from them.
http://www.myspace.com/grievingage
Lee Kimber
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