Like three wisemen traveling across a desert in a smoke filled caravan, Mournful Cries bestows upon the metal world a gift of pure DOOM with the release of their debut album, “Bad Taste.” The Sonoma County based trio delivers an album containing plenty of killer riffs and seismic jams powerful enough to rattle the Earth’s core.
Mournful Cries is band that I am quite familiar with since I’ve reviewed a few of their previous demos for the blog. Those demo releases were great starting points and the band was able to build off those past songs and form some truly crushing tracks. The new songs written for the album are extremely well produced and the overall sound is very addicting. Once you starting listening, you do not want to stop.
The album contains seven tracks, all of them delivering a mighty punch of unapologetic doom making you feel like you are traveling into a misty world of haunting distortion and bombastic rhythms. “Sea of Trees,” is a great opening track which sets the tone by unleashing a groovy main riff that welcomes a blizzard of reverb and thunderous drumming. Guitarist and singer Luis Olguin along with bassist Matt Lasserre feverishly hack away at a tasty main riff, while drummer Alex Hernandez assaults his kit with precision and great feel throughout the song. The band continues that same approach on the next song, “Hallowed Tomb,” taking listeners into a crypt of classic doom like horror.
“Evil Confessor,” conveys a more gritty and raw attitude where the bass sound really captures your attention. Matt seems to hit the notes at the right time causing you to feel the impact of each note striking your eardrum. Track number four, “Angelic Envy,” is a blasphemous tale containing a sample from the movie, Dogma. I really like how Luis delivers the lyrics and I find the song’s overall instrumental composition to be very well written. Songs like, “Sinner’s Pyre” and “Bad Taste,” are great examples of track that feature these simple yet catchy riffs and can eventually evolve into these monolith sized jams.
The album’s final song, “Witches’ Herbs,” is the longest song on the album and runs about nine and a half minutes, allowing the band to throw in quite a few devastating riff compositions. Right when Luis hits that first chord, you know that the band means business. Throughout the song you feel drawn into this endless void of hypnotic sounds that are heightened by the relentless drive of each band member as they conjure such raw power through their instruments.
Although the metal world has been saturated with bands trying to sound like Black Sabbath and other legendary doom bands for many years, few are able to standout and develop a strong musical identity. Mournful Cries did an impressive job molding their influences together and achieved a unique sound that compliments their songwriting style.
Out of all the albums I've heard this year, I believe, “Bad Taste,” has a certain quality that really stands out, especially considering it being their first album. You can hear how each musicians put a lot of effort into the recordings and each song is played with true dedication and passion. The goal on the next album should be to keep that same drive and passion alive, because that is how you can take the music to an even greater level.
In the end, I highly recommend this album for fans of doom along with anyone who is looking for an album that will leave you tripping out of your mind on some HEAVY goddam riffs!
Mournful Cries bandcamp:
https://mournfulcries.bandcamp.com/album/bad-taste
