Before The Mourning delivers a fresh, ambitious, and thunderous collection of songs on their debut album, Etherial End.
Before The Mourning is a five-piece melodic metal band formed in 2012 from Los Angeles, California and are being well received as they break their way into the metal scene. CJ Cussell and Jeff Stevenson on guitars, along with Paul McBride on bass, and Phil Gonyea on drums lay down a punchy, crunchy, dirty, and brutally tight rhythmic foundation. Singer Adam Ryan caps the ensemble with his guttural, emotional, and haunting vocals.
Etherial End is just over 43 minutes long featuring 11 tracks:
01. The Deception
02. Raised By Wolves
03. Honestly
04. Another Sleepless Night
05. Continuum
06. A Devil With No Name
07. The Black Day
08. No Redemption
09. The Hidden
10. Etherial
11. Deserter
The bass and drums snake from simple to complex time signatures with a mix of straight forward and syncopated beats providing a solid foundation, with guitars adding layers of chugging rhythm, and slow to shredding melodic leads. The technical, galloping, and helicopter like drums will challenge even the most experienced air drumming metal heads out there.
The first two featured tracks, “The Deception” and “Raised By Wolves,” are fast and upbeat followed by the slower and more melodic “Another Sleepless Night” and “Honestly.” The later tracks stand out as the more commercial and radio-ready songs on the album without surrendering any of their metal essence.
The rest of the tracks are energetic, solid, and cohesive. They round out the album with mid to fast tempo, upbeat rhythms, and melodic guitars, except for the surprising and unexpected last track, “Deserter.” It is an emotional, dark, and heartfelt acoustic song that would make you raise up a lighter at a show.
Before The Mourning has found their unique, distinctive sound and breathes some welcome new breath into the metal scene. It is highly recommended to keep Before The Mourning on your watchlist for upcoming shows and releases.
Etherial End, by Before The Mourning, drops August 21, 2015, from Street Smart Recordings.
Before The Mourning “Another Sleepless Night”: