Wednesday, May 22, 2013

REVIEW: MOURNING CLOAK - NO VISIBLE LIGHT


Hat tip to Headfirst! Records for pointing my crusty ears in the direction of Mourning Cloak, who have one song available over on Bandcamp called “No Visible Light.” The title is apt, because this track is an ominous cloud blocking the sun, raining down charcoal dust, black mud, and infant ash on us all.


Their Facebook page refers to their music as “funeral doom/punk,” but I only hear the former in this track. But this song doesn’t sulk through the cemetery, it grooves hard enough to split the catacombs in half, releasing the crypt bats into the air. After the quickly dissipating opening ambience the guitars crawl from open graves and shake the rust off their bones with godless black-and-blues riffs. There is suck a thick layer of slime and sludge on this song that it reminds me of that barrier of grime and giant centipedes Indiana Jones’ love interest sticks her hand through in Temple of Doom. If you don’t get that reference, here it is in non-geek language: This song is nasty and unpleasant in the most sadistically delightful ways possible. The vocalist sounds like he’s plummeting into a bottomless pit, shaking hands with the devil to make a pact to finally break his fall. The song concludes with a (slightly overlong) cacophony of mayhem and sirens, which sadly just sounded like the usual Brooklyn madness outside my window, home of serial-arsonists and fisticuffs. I’m really anxious to hear more from these guys from Greensboro, NC, especially if upcoming songs mix in the punk influences they mention as well. I’m not sure if they named themselves after the butterfly species (Latin name: Nymphalis antiopa) but I did notice that the pre-butterfly larvae form looks exactly like the type of creature who would jam out to this music: Mean, dressed in black, dotted suspiciously with red stains, and covered in spikes. This is some seriously bleak stuff that fans of Bongzilla and Cough should feverishly inhale.


Listen to “No Visible Light” over at Bandcamp here: http://mourningcloaknc.bandcamp.com/


And follow them on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/mourningcloaknc

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