Mournful Congregation
Tears From A Grieving Heart

Absolute black, impenetrable. It's the darkness that is the fundamental chromatic element of Mournful Congregation, an Australian funeral doom band about which almost nothing is known. The names of the group only emerged a few years ago, despite the "Congregation" having been musically active for more than a decade. Damon Good behind the microphone with the additional task of bass lines and second guitar. Justin Hartwig, lead guitar, and Adrian Bickle on drums.

Due to the scarce information about these three Australians, I was convinced that the album "The monad of creation," dated 2005, was their first platter, as I erroneously wrote in the CD review. After browsing various sites, I finally learned about this Tears from a grieving heart from 1998, the first real album by the three doomsters.

I would like to emphasize a fundamental factor right away: if you are not accustomed to these kinds of funereal sounds, Tears from a grieving heart is not the album for you. An approach might nonetheless be attempted, but I believe this album is precisely one of those which, without a basic awareness of the genre, is difficult to listen to completely. Reaching the end is quite complicated, not due to the low-quality level of the tracks, but because of the band's offering, suffocating and monolithic, like few realities are able to create.

It is for this reason that I approached the album knowing the difficulties inherent within it, but after some in-depth listening, I believe I can trace a few lines on TFAGH. The first hints of what the CD contains come from the title and the equally emblematic cover: doom that dissects the soul, of a slowness and emotional weight that is crushing. Surviving unscathed through "Skyward gaze, earthward touch" is impossible, given the dark and emotional charge that Mournful manages to generate. But if that track is enough to hurl us into this endless abyss, "Opal of the stream beneath the hills" immediately deals us the final blow, the one that makes us plummet to the bottom, without the fear of landing on something solid. Thirteen minutes where the fear of collision disappears. We are transported to another world, as black and impenetrable as the atmosphere generated by the three band members. "Elemental" only serves to break the air filled with tragedy, as "Re - membrance of the transcending moon" enters the scene–another absolute boulder, with Damon Good's voice smoothly shifting from a faint whisper to an endless, visceral growl.

The title track is the final act of a complex and dark album: there is not only funeral doom and growl. In this work, Mournful Congregation also add personality and a desire to amaze: they do so with long and hard-to-assimilate tracks, but they also do so thanks to the union of dramatic and acoustic parts. It is an additional positive factor for the album, the first work and first cry of a band that, although in the underground metal scene of sunny Australia, is slowly making a name for itself. Congratulations to them.

1. "Skyward Gaze, Earthward Touch" (9:41)
2. "Opal Of The Stream Beneath The Hills" (13:10)
3. "Elemental" (0:53)
4. "Re - Membrance Of The Transcending Moon" (11:21)
5. "Tears From A Grieving Heart" (10:02)