SORROW

The 3rd & the Mortal’s first offering is a curious study in metaphors of despair mixed with half-hearted optimism, and gothic metal music spattered like a blood pattern with hauntingly seductive vocals. It’s just one more example of what happens when one ignores vitamin B and iron in their diet, and sets the tone for pretty much everything that is to follow from this band.

Fortunately I don’t actually own any of this band’s albums; otherwise, I might be depressed like they all seem to be, although in my case it would be from the loss of my hard-earned money. I have a friend who owns pretty much everything these guys have put out, and he’s a great source of the occasional sampling which in this case means I saved myself the grief of being disappointed before buying these instead of after.

But I worry about him since he seems to spend an awful lot of time listening to these guys, and that can’t be good for one’s psych. I’ve rambled on in the past on theories about vitamin and sunlight deficiency and its negative impact on the attitudes and music of people who come from northern climates, and this is yet another example. I will say that this seems to be the least despairing of this band’s albums, for whatever that’s worth. Maybe they recorded it during the summer.

Musically this entire EP, and probably the band’s whole catalog, would make for some great all-instrumental mood music or maybe the soundtrack to one of those slightly- gothic M. Night Shyamalan films. And the female vocals on all their albums are exquisite, whether delivered by Kari Rueslåtten, Ann-Marie Edvardsen, or even the later Kirsti Huke. But the lyrics betray the notion that this is either fatalistic goth-metal like Entwine, or emotional but ultimately positive music like Nightwish. Instead it’s both, and neither, and that’s really the problem.

The opening “Grevinnens Bønn” (“Plea of the Countess”) is a perfect example. Musically this is borderline metal (there’s some pretty cool heavy shredding from time-to-time, so that qualifies, I suppose). And I love the vocals, although Rueslåtten’s tendency to trill her R’s can be a bit distracting to western ears that aren’t accustomed to that phoneme. But the real point here is that the lyrics are neither completely despairing, nor do they offer any hope to speak of. They kind of sit on the emotional fence, so to speak, and I find that annoying.

The title track is a bit more decisive, as this is basically the tale of lost love:

“Cry out thy Sorrow, and seek to heal; cry out thy Sorrow, and try to forgive (forget).”

Okay, easy to sink your teeth into that. Acoustic guitar and no trilling either, which makes this probably the most appealing of the four tracks here.

“Ring of Fire” starts off almost like the Cranberries “Zombie”, which by the way is a good thing. Tight guitars, string synths, heavy bass – a nice combination if you want to pass yourself off as a goth-metal band. But here again the mixed metaphors are confusing:

“Searching for something to satisfy my soul, is Darkness what I find in the whole; lust and hate cover my fate across the Sea of Tranquility. The dream fulfills my needs.”;

and

“Draw a ring of fire; be careful as you step across the line. Make sure you leave your soul behind.”

So I don’t know what they heck these guys are trying to say, but like a lot of later Mortal music I suspect they are simply taking some slightly-mad rambling poems written over the cold winter by one or more of their members, and splicing them up to fit the music’s arrangements. Or maybe the other way around.

The final “Silently I Surrender” is more of the same, so there’s no point belaboring this. I will say that the extended instrumental passages in this last track further convince me that these guys would be better of either without vocals, or at least by adding several all-instrumental tracks to their albums in the future. And look up that Shymalan dude guys – I really do think he could find work for you.

So this isn’t the most depressing and completely lacking in redeeming value album from these guys – I think their latest ‘Project Bluebook’ wins that award. But I still can’t bring myself to call it “good” either, although of everything I’ve heard from them this EP comes the closest. So it’s 2.4 stars, and I’ve already taken this back to my friend’s apartment so I doubt it will ever grace my CD player again.

peace