Caïna - Mourner - review
Caïna - Mourner - review
Tracklist
01. Waves Engulf A Pier02. Hideous Gnosis
03. The Sleep Of Reason
04. Constantine The Blind
05. I Reeled In Heaven
06. Morgawr
07. Requiem For Shattered Timbers
1 - Overture
2 - Arc of Piss
3 - Ruined Shore
08. Permaneo Carmen
09. Wormwood Over Albion
A review by
Lucas November 25, 2007
Often being tagged as Post-Black Metal, a term which cloaks more than it clarifies, this one-mans-band combines acoustic strumming and very fragile, clean vocals with very raw, abrasive Black Metal. And in some songs there is even some Dark Ambient thrown into them. One might frown his left or right eyebrow upon hearing this, but it should be known to the world that such a mix can very well work! It does require well-acquainted ears of the recent evolutions in the Black Metal scene due to it's great variety in expression. Those who are still stuck at the beginning of the Second Wave will probably find nothing of appreciation in this release.
With every song having different proportions of the aforementioned styles, no song sounds alike. The dark noise-like ambience of "Waves Engulf A Pier" sounds as if from a completely different album than "Constantine The Blind", a somber and grey song with admirable use of the acoustic guitar and spoken word. Yet, when listening to this album on a whole they connect with each other, and become an over-an-hour-long work of fragility and sporadic outbursts of hate. These feelings are best captured in the aforementioned Constantine, but also in the sixth track "Morgawr" and the closing track "Wormwood Over Albion".
As 'weakness' is the main emotion that is conveyed on Mourner, don't expect the vocals to portray strength or any other of the usual Black Metal aesthetics suchs as 'icy' or 'grim'. A better word to describe the shrieked vocals is 'ugly'. Really, the desperate cry-outs sound horrible, yet that is exactly why they sound so good. When you want to personify depression and translate it to music in it's rawest and ugliest form, then there is no room for beautifully sung melodies. While they may not appeal to everyone, they are essential to the atmosphere. Same goes for the clean vocals. At times they are just painful to listen to, but after all, that is why we started to listen to this music at first, right?
All in all I was really taken by surprise from this great release, and it will no doubt rank high on my 'best of 2007' list. If you are also getting a bit bored of today's metal scene and are looking for something that takes it's influences also from outside, give Mourner a spin.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 9 |
| Songwriting: | 8 |
| Originality: | 9 |
| Production: | 8 |
Comments
Comments:
10
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 Posts: 13290 |
Posts: 13290
nicely written review, but I know I didn't start listening to music to overcome some crippling mental state - it makes me wonder, isn't this kind of "black metal" if you want to call it that, just an elitists version of what other people might call "emo".. all the weakness and depression and all I must be stuck in some inferior phase obviously because I do not appreciate this kind of black metal. hahahaha really nicely written review though
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| Queen Of Hippies
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Queen Of Hippies
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I definitely agree with this review. "Mourner" is a great release. Unlike someone here, I do feel what you tried to express in this review, and you did it well. But I have to say, the clean vocals are not ugly! and there is melody. Well, at least, I think there is  .
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 Posts: 4943 |
Posts: 4943
damn, i've become a fan of you're reviews the clean vocals are indeed ugly. imo Mourner is a letdown after the brilliant Some People Fall, but still breath of fresh air after I, Mountain.
---- Blessed is he that murders Christ in himself and in his fellow men.  Written by TheBigRossowski on 10.02.2009 at 16:01
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Posts: 469  |
Posts: 469 Written by Baz Anderson on 25.11.2007 at 00:20 If you think about it, most metal is emotional in similar ways to "emo", the thing that sets emo apart is that those bands are bitches about it.
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Posts: 11957
I will certainly give it a spin
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 Posts: 3922 |
Posts: 3922
Boring pretentious crap. Get the 2 demos on Drakkar. After that it's just chringeworthy.
---- "This rudderless world is not shaped my metaphysical forces. It is not God who kills the children. Not fate that butchers them or destiny that feeds them to the dogs. It's us. Only us" Read Watchmen.
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 Posts: 6663 |
Posts: 6663
After listening to this album, I definitely thought that this Caina guy can do a good Death In June impression. But other than that, I think this is a rather flawed album in that it meanders too much in the pointless dark ambient passages. Not sure if I'd call it black metal either.
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 Posts: 13427 |
Posts: 13427 Written by -tom- on 25.11.2007 at 23:22 Trying to get those on ebay.  @jptrs: indeed, he is straying away more and more from BM. but there are some really raw bm passages in there. I guess it only depends on how much BM you think is necessary to call this band BM.
---- SLUDGE. DOOM. DEATH. Wait, what?  "The reason I'm running for president is because I can't be Bruce Springsteen." - Barack Obama
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| Posts: 3922 |
Posts: 3922 Written by Lucas on 26.11.2007 at 16:11 Still available from both drakkar and the band. I also have their limited to 17 split CDr. Sounds kind of like Krieg if I remember right (though i only listened to it once).
---- "This rudderless world is not shaped my metaphysical forces. It is not God who kills the children. Not fate that butchers them or destiny that feeds them to the dogs. It's us. Only us" Read Watchmen.
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 Posts: 5102 |
Posts: 5102
Very well written review...made me listen to the album. Found it pretty boring and nothing special except the atmosphere you were talking about...it was pretty creepy at times.
----  Dreams are made so we don't get bored when we sleep
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