It’s quite difficult to understand the reverence that Mournful Gust are held in quite frankly. They are certainly not the most prolific of artists with only two full length releases in the last ten years, and yet here we are with a 2 disc ‘Best Of’ compilation package which just reeks of shameless cash in. What we have here is yet another re-release of 2000’s ‘She’s My Grief’, and ‘…Decade’ which is a collection of demos and remixes of some of those songs and songs that comprised the 2008 follow up ‘The Frankness Eve’. My question is why? There are bands out there with much more material at their disposal who do not feel the need to do this, so what is there in this package that Mournful Gust’s fans will not already have?
So, what is so special about ‘She’s My Grief’ that warrants it being released twice in 10 years? Well, I’m really not sure having given it several listens. Firstly, for an allegedly remastered recording, the production quality is terrible, sounding almost as if it’s been transferred directly from a tape recording. The intro track ‘The First Spring Without You’, is little more than a mess with no atmosphere at all, but that’s a common occurrence. First actual song ‘Path Of My Tears’ is standard gothic doom, the kind of thing that My Dying Bride knocks out in their lunch break. The individual elements are all perfectly reasonable, with Vladislav Shahin providing a very strong vocal, reminiscent of Draconian’s Anders Jacobsson, and the guitar is suitably mournful and brooding if slightly scrappy, but the presence of the flute adds nothing to the ensemble. The drum sound sticks out like a sore thumb with its light, tinny and occasionally haphazard delivery. The thing with doom metal and its inherent low bpm rate is that it’s very easy to tell when a drummer is out of time, and Vjacheslav Kapusta generally is. The same can be said for Alexander Glavniy’s lead guitar, as he unleashes one of the worst solos I’ve ever heard on ‘Sweet Embrace Of Scarlet Twilight’. To call it disappointing would be a chronic understatement, because underneath it all there is some very good songs on ‘She’s My Grief’, they are just invariably shoddily performed.
Slipping ‘…Decade’ into the player and going straight into ‘A Pain To Remember (Demo)’, the difference is astounding. Considering that this is a demo, the quality is 3 to 4 times better than anything on the allegedly remastered main album and considerably better in musical quality too. This is far more mature, considered and mournful doom. The guitars are immeasurably more competent in the hands of Evgeny Vecher and the result is more coherent and aurally pleasing. Thankfully Mr Kapusta must have taken the lengthy time between the first two albums to invest in drum lessons, as his performance here is greatly improved, especially on ‘It’s Our Own Tragedy’, unfortunately the singer adopts a clean vocal here which comes across much like Primordial’s A.A. Nemtheanga, which whilst perfectly competent, detracts from the music and lessens the impact. Despite the early promise of ‘…Decade’, things take a big nosedive towards the end with three separate versions of ‘The Cold Solitude’, one of which is an instrumental and is seemingly remixed by what I can only assume is the Ukraine’s most influential Latino band. It’s a complete waste of time and only true Mournful Gust fanboys will find any worth in it. The final version on here is the original demo, and it is a very good song, clearly one of the redeeming features on here.
So once again, I ask, just what is the relevance in this release? A re-release of the first album, (and as I understand it, this is the second time they have done this in ten years), and a few demos and remixes. I heard ‘The Frankness Eve’ before listening to this, and was really impressed and I’d urge any of you to seek it out, but with this, I really wouldn’t bother. ‘She’s My Grief’ is vastly overrated, and to release it in that state originally, never mind the fact that it’s supposed to be a remastering…I’ve really heard far better efforts from bands who have recorded demos in their bedrooms and garages. ‘…Decade’ is worth a listen, but you’d really just be far better off with ‘The Frankness Eve’. Mournful Gust would be far better off spending their time and effort on new material rather than wasting theirs and everyone else’s time on what is a rather pointless release here. With all their effort behind an album of new songs, I’m sure that Mournful Gust will blow a mighty wind with their next release, rather than the sad fart that this turned out to be.
http://www.myspace.com/mournfulgustband
