THE WEIGHT OF OCEANS

12/20

48th place album of the year 2012

Melodeath bands never cease to amaze me in their ability to keep music going using only guitars. I often argue that if they used clean vocals as well as the complex guitars they could be some of the most revered bands in the world. Insomnium, a Finnish band, would easily become my favourite band of all time if they didn't use death growling.

But that's where the talent in these bands lies. They can somehow make an 'ugly' genre, death metal, beautiful. I can't help but dream what these bands must be like to people who actually enjoy death growling. In Mourning really nail some of the death growled parts. I often raise albums for having 'catchy' choruses, or vocal hooks as the music majors call them. But somehow the chorus of "Colossus" is insanely catchy without even having a vocal melody. I find myself chanting my impression of a growl to that rhythm every time, as I would to any pop song.

To the reason of its position in this chart, the guitars. While "Colossus" nails it with vocals, most of the other songs are laden with decent riffs, the sort of riffs regular metal bands would use in one song, In Mourning nails 8 of them into one track. It really is intriguing listening, and not once do I complain about the ugliness of the vocals like I do in regular death metal, because I'm not really listening to them.

But this album has another gem. I had not heard In Mourning before this release, but I understand from fan reactions that "Celestial Tear" is a new thing for them. This entirely clean-sung song sits right in the middle of the album like an oasis for those, like me, who aren't fans of the death vocals. And not just that, it is a truly wonderful song, even on an album filled with similar style songs this would stick out, but on an album of heavy melodic death metal, this gothic rock beauty really takes the cake.

You may be wondering why this review is overtly positive and yet this album isn't that high. Again, it's just my prejudice against death growling. Sorry. So, recommended in completeness to any extreme metal fans, especially those who love riffs as opposed to solos. I still recommend others listen to this, check out "Celestial Tear" and "Colossus", to see if you like it, as I'm not an extreme metal fan and I still enjoy it.

Originally posted on my facebook page/blog http://www.facebook.com/neoprogisbestprog

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