Mournful Congregation : "The Exuviae of Gods – Part II"

If there was a part one then part two had to come. I would prefer that they just packaged the two EPS as an album, but studio time costs money, as does mastering album and such. This Australian band is one of my favorite funeral doom acts, but they are not dabbling in the same kind of sonics here that set 2011's "the Book of Kings"  at the top of the genre. The first song is a recording of "Heads Bowed" that was originally on their second demo tape. I can appreciate the fact they hold a song they wrote from 1995 in such high esteem that they were committed to go back and make sure it was fully realized. It is more metallic and less of the forward thinking ambience they would later work towards. It drones with melancholy that works for what it is. The fact that they were writing twelve and a half minute songs in the 90s is also pretty impressive as that was not the cool thing to do back then. 

The overall mood of the second song checks out as being consistent with what these guys are about. There is an angular hesitation that haunts the riff. The guitar solos are pretty stellar, as they are memorable melodies and not just a bunch of wanking. The growls wash over the song like the roar of the ocean.  Not their best produced album, though I will give another listen through head phones and see if it changes my mind. In under nine minutes they get a great deal accomplished, going to prove they do not always need to drag things out. 

The last song is almost 19 minutes long. The clean guitar parts leading into the actual song takes up two minutes. The actual metal does not crank up until five and a half minutes , which could have been abbreviated. They sail of into the ambiance of their own making, though at the nine minute mark I marvel at the fact we are only at the half way point. There is lots of skillfully nuanced guitar work, but I think like most elements of this album it could have been scaled back, but for what it is, the playing is impressive. Metal is a genre known for it's excesses, this pushes the point , and would endanger the song writing if the guitar playing on this album was not so damn good. I will give this an 8,5 it's better than what most doom band's are doing , but not at the top of this band's legacy. This is coming out May 26th on Osmose Productions in Europe and 20 Buck Spin  handling the American release.