Release Date: October 06th 2023. Record Label: Majestic Mountain Records. Formats: CD/DD/Vinyl
Grieve - Tracklisting
1.At First Light
2.Passages
3.A Stem's Embrace
4.No Sun, No Moon
Members
Adam Asquith - Vocals / Drums
Alex Clarke - Guitar
Lewis Crane - Guitar
James Atha - Bass
Review:
Post-Metal/Sludge/Doom/Stoner Riff Merchants Morag Tong released their debut album Last Knell Of Om way back in May 2018 and it’s an album that made a mighty impression within the Doom, Sludge and Stoner Metal community. Mostly down it’s fantastic style of Ambient Post Rock fused with Doom, Sludge and Stoner based sounds that had a thrilling fantastical Psychedelic element to them that allowed the band to create their own unique and haunting style of music.
Well Morag Tong are back with Grieve and it seems the band have undergone a major transformation with their music. As Morag Tong have decided to focus upon playing a more Post-Doom and Progressive sound that you would associate with YOB and Pallbearer. There’s still a certain Stoner element to their music but mostly Grieve sees Morag Tong to play mostly to their Post-Doom and Post-Metal creative strengths with a muscular Psychedelic Sludge attitude drifting into darker areas than you initially realise.
Opening song At First Light has a slight resemblance to what you heard within their last record though that mood changes when the Post-Rock flow transforms into a heavier and free-flowing style of Ambient Post-Metal with a gloomy heaviness that allows the band to play the heaviest sounds of their career. Perhaps best described as PURE CINEMATIC and BONE CRUNCHING AMBIENT DOOM especially when the Harsh vocals appear. There’s a more violent and sinister Post-Stoner element at play which morphs into some epic extended instrumental sounds towards the later stages of the track.
Second song Passages offers a more daring and extreme style of music from Morag Tong which has a destructive and nihilistic sound that draws comparisons to EYEHEATEGOD and early-era Electric Wizard but with the Psychedelic Sludge Metal flavour allowing Morag Tong to play familiar sounds from a distance. The song is quite cold and calculated within the heavier moments but offers moments of brief hopeful respite when the music changes into a more restrained and mellower style of Sludge Rock fused with Ambient Sounds and Post-Stoner scorched desert riffs.
Third song A Stem’s Embrace opens with a simple but beautifully played melody that ranks up there with the best Post-Rock/Post-Metal interludes that would make Pelican and Russian Circles green with envy. Though, the creative and subtle mood of the album slowly changes into destructive styles of Distorted Fuzzed Up Sludge/Stoner Metal. The atmosphere is slowly underplayed with Morag Tong laying down all the building blocks for perhaps the heaviest parts of the album to appear and fully reign supreme. There’s a sense of chaotic harmony to this track which showcases how Morag Tong have matured into better songwriters since their celebrated debut album. The second half of the track features a jaw-dropping moment where a single riff changes the whole complexity and message of the album which acts as the perfect gateway for Morag Tong to unleash more brutal vocals and sludgy nightmarish sounds whilst still retaining a grasp of Stoner Metal reality.
The final song of No Sun, No Moon is perhaps best described as a multi-part track telling different chapters of the same story. As Morag Tong blends Post-Rock cinematic storytelling techniques where the song is mostly Ambient driven. The next stage of the song changes into heavier areas of Sonic and Doomed Out Experimentation where the music is constantly evolving with sublime Ambient textures once again being quite spectacular without overstating the mark. The song may not seem the heaviest to end the album with but you’ll be surprised at how aggressive and how daring this song actually ventures into. The music is beautifully melodic and showcases some of the best sounds on the entire album.
Grieve lives upto its title by actually you feel remorse and sorrow from the album but it’s one that also offers hope and that’s very hard to pull off. With wonderfully rich observed production values allowing Morag Tong to reach far greater creative heights they achieved with their last album. This is a fact not lost on Swedish Premiere Rock Label - Majestic Mountain Records - who are releasing this album. And they know a thing or two about releasing albums from great bands to the underground scene already. So if it’s good enough for them then take that as another recommendation to add this amazing album to your collection.
Grieve can only be described as WOW or perhaps even better for me personally - As one of the most wonderfully diverse albums you’ll hear this year within the Doom/Sludge/Stoner Metal underground scene.
Words by Steve Howe
Thanks to Viral Propaganda PR for the promo.
Grieve will be available to buy on CD/DD/Vinyl via Majestic Mountain Records from October 06th 2023.
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