Friday, June 15, 2012

September Mourning - Melancholia (2012)


After coming across a band called September Mourning and noticing that they are listed as Gothic Metal, I decided to take a chance... And now I'm regretting it. This "Gothic Metal" band from the USA has recently released their new album, entitled "Melancholia." The front cover caught my eye so i gave it a shot. This was a big mistake.

The album starts with "Go For The Throat" which opens with a female scream as chugging guitar riffs jump in. The verses are filled with clean female vocals that at the time sound decent. Then she starts to scream with this horrible "hardcore" type of screaming that screeches trough the air with terrible tones. The guitars stay pretty basic with a similar riff running throughout the track. They later add a breakdown that has some of the most basic riffs I've ever heard. Also the refrain really aims for radio success. This is where you can really tell the band is from the United States. "A Place To Call Your Own" also leans heavily on a catchy hook with basic melodies and basic drum rolls as female vocals are soaked in reverb effects and heavily layered on top of one another. Meanwhile the verses continue with her wretched screams and aggressive vocals.

Track number three, "Always," is where you'll start to realize that every track sounds the same and has the same exact vocal deliver, guitar patterns, and refrains. All they do is constantly layer the vocals in the chorus and add tons of reverb and delay. The guitars are chugging in the same patterns as they did the first two tracks. "Lost Angel" has some of the most ridiculous lyrics i've ever heard. And the delivery of the melody is just horrible in every way. "It's gonna take a miracle to get the job done," and "I'm sending out an S.O.S. " These lyrics basically repeat throughout the entire track. One thing that you will notice in the background of these lyrics towards the end of the track is a little guitar solo. The only thing is they keep the volume of the solo so low you barely know it's there in the first place. Metal is about wicked solos so why would you cover them up, wicked or not.

"Beyond The Grave" and "Last Embrace" attempt to close the album with a bang but fail as they throw heavily distorted riffs at you but overly repeat them. On top of that, the vocals just sound like wining lyrics at this point. These are just a couple of three minute bullshit tracks that the band tacked on to make their album somewhat full.

After listening this entire album, you would think that the band got together and agreed to take Halestorm vocals and mash them with Of Mice And Men guitar riffs and sound like every other bullshit hardcore emo band that comes out of the United States. It's shitty bands like this that piss me off the most. They purposely aim for radio hits that sound exactly the same as the bullshit hardcore tracks that are already out there. There is no originality in this album. Do not waste your time with September Mourning.

3/10

Official Site - http://septembermourning.com/
Myspace - http://www.myspace.com/mlazar

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