Mother of Graves : "The Periapt Of Absence

 This band's 2022 album reached the number 5 spot in our Top  10 Doom Albums for that year. So expectations are high. They continue to retain a balance of death metal grit with the mournful melodic nature of doom, perhaps this time around leaning more in the direction of doom. The second song finds them raging into a more death-metal feel. Piano parts are sprinkled about, and midway into the song, it finds more solid footing with the deliberate drumming that makes the vocalist's job easier. As far as the arrangement and production go things are more ambitious this time around, though it does tend to streamline their sound more neatly into what you expect from melodic death metal. 

This middle ground they reached does not do any favors for songs that do not use dramatic dynamic shifts, as heard on "The Scarlet Threnody" which coasts on a steady doom beat. "Apparition" is a step further in the doom direction with more melodic work. It's the best song so far, as when the pace picks up it retains a steady flow that has both drive and melody. The title track is effective as it finds enough hook and heaviness in the riffs to ground it as the harmonie parts haunt the verses. "As the Earth Fell Silent' is darker though there is more chaos to the weird trippy arrangement, which balances everything out as this song helps them escape for the more middle-of-the-road feel and embrace their darker identity. When the song builds it does so in a more sonic manner. 

They still care greatly about songwriting, which gives them a head up over most bands. There is some dynamic depth to "Upon Burdened Hands". The melodic guitar wanders in a way that is not as creative or catchy as the previous song, but it still works well enough. The last song carries a very purposeful creep to it's dreary pulse. It took a couple listens for it to grow on me. This album is great but I do not think it hits the same way as "Where the Shadows Adorn", perhaps this has more to do with the production, it's still really great so much so I will give it a 9. It drops October 18th on Profound Lore. 

pst438

November is Doom- Mother of Graves :"Where the Shadows Adorn"

This band emerges from Indiana of all places with some killer death doom, that finds the right balance of death metal grit with the somber melodic nature of doom. The riffs are catchy and serve the songs. The second song 'Rain" is a little more straight forward in the death metal direction, trudging forward with the deep growl of the vocals continuing their narrative. There are some powerful doom-colored punches being thrown as the song progresses, but it is generally ore midtempo.  The mood is one of the most impressive things the guitars capture. They hold your own against icons of the genre like Paradise Lost in this regard, though the vocals are not as nuanced. 

The guitars on "Tears Like Wine" are more sonic than being stuck in the metal riff way of thinking most bands of this sort live and die by. This willingness to explore other guitar sounds goes further for me than the piano breaks, as I have heard bands use those already to break things up.  Things take a meatier death metal turn on the more aggressive "the Emptiness of Eyes". Then to contrast this they go over into their more atmospheric and melodic side with " Of Solitude and Stone". It starts off with a calm before the storm clean guitar and builds into the kind of heavy they work with. 

There is a similar feel to "the Crown". Though the tempo starts off in a more languid place before building into melodic death metal. Just keening this sound is not the be all end all as they care about writing songs. The last minute of 'the Crown 'sails off into mournful atmosphere before converging back into the roar.  "Ghost in Twilight" works really well, though treads the same dark waters they have been paddling in throughout the album, leaning more in death metal. There is more of a traditional metal feel to the last song, as the guitars harmonize. When the crunching of riffs come it is very powerful. I will give this album a 9.5, they have a formula but never dial into it, I think they mean every note here, this is perhaps the best death doom album of the year, glad that I checked it out and you should as well.