It’s time for Mourning Dawn to return.
Formed in 2002 in France, the band led by Laurent « Pokemonslaughter » (guitar/vocals, Inborn Suffering, SILT) and completed by Vincent « Toxine » (bass, Conviction), Nicolas Joyeux (drums) and Frédéric Patte-Brasseur (guitar, Ataraxie, Conviction) announced the release of The Foam of Despair, their sixth album, in 2024 via Aesthetic Death, Depressive Illusions Records and Tragedy Productions.
The band greets us with Tomber du Temps and its strange introductive sample that immediately sinks us into anxiety, confirmed by the rhythm section that soon makes its entrance. The haunting ambience is disturbed by visceral howls or other voices, but is also complemented by melancholy, dissonant leads that integrate with the oppressive march and gripping DSBM influences. Adrien Harmois adds a few saxophone parts as he leads us into Blue Pain, the next track, where harmonics dance with coldness, welcoming the voice of Déhà (Maladie, Slow, Imber Luminis, Wolvennest, Yhdarl…) who strengthens the lament before Borrowed Skin takes its place. Another pessimistic sample accompanies us during the first moments of dissonance, but also regularly throughout the track, which adopts martial Industrial influences, giving a mysterious misty touch to its listless rhythm before Apex comes whistling into our ears with raw jerky riffs. The vocal parts are also darker and more desperate, as are the leads, which become almost dreamlike as the composition progresses, before finally fading out and leaving Suzerain to unveil an introduction with strange Trap influences. Once the surprise has worn off, the track stays true to nostalgia, letting vocal samples and leads from former band guitarist Fabien Longeot haunt the driving rhythm that leads into The Color of Waves, which returns to the more usual, visceral approach we know the musicians for, while remaining quite minimalist at times. The hypnotic sound displays a few ghostly choruses in its final moments, before sinking into nothingness and Midnight Sun returning to the icy, automatic Industrial elements, closing the album on an impressive and genuinely frightening note that blends howls and heady leads over its machine-like basis.
The evolution of Mourning Dawn is clearly perceptible on The Foam of Despair. The sound remains cold and haunted by the deepest despair, but the musicians sometimes adopt almost robotic Industrial influences, literally transforming their musical approach.
95/100