Let’s share Mourners Lament’s pain.
After a period of silence and following their last EP two years ago, Marcos Contreras (guitar, Mortajas), Franco Ciaffaroni (bass, Caospectro), Matias Aguirre (keyboards, La Fiura, King Heavy, The Ancient Doom), Rodrigo Figueroa (drums, La Fiura, Marchafunebre, Mortajas) and Alfredo Pérez (vocals, Concatenatus, Mournument, Siaskel, Sol Sistere… ) unveil A Grey Farewell, their second studio album, on Personal Records.
They are joined by Eduardo Poblete (Wooden Veins, ex-Mourning Sun) on keyboards and Ordog (Caronte, Adkan) on violin.
The band floods us with its melancholy with Towards Abandonment, a slow haunting first composition where saturation and clean tones naturally blend before welcoming the heavy vocal parts to reinforce the majestic sound. Although very long, the composition remains coherent and lulls us easily, then the five musicians take us into quietude with Changes, where the oppressive riffs are much darker, reinforcing the contrast with the airy moments. The track progresses smoothly, sometimes dipping our heads under water during the heavier moments, but we manage to breathe easily until Ocaso, which weaves a certain darkness from the outset thanks to the murmurs, then bursts into flame when saturation kicks in. The Clear Distance returns to mysterious touches, whether in intensity or softness, linked by soaring piano notes joining harmonics before shaking us with drum bursts, then the atmosphere calms again with In A White Room, whose opening moments are dedicated to silence. A voice disturbs it, along with a few ghostly noises and notes, before the whole band joins in the heady sound, eventually making it more threatening, then ominous, before giving way to Mass Eulogy, where we find the traditional alternation between howls and a few words inhabiting the hazy composition, until the inclusion of that hint of Black Metal before a grandiose final.
The slumber of Mourners Lament has come to an end with A Grey Farewell, showing a band in full possession of its sadness. The album is as fascinating as oppressive, allowing the musicians to bring their majestic slowness to life.
90/100