The Morningside - Letters From The Empty Towns (CD)

Review
Hell is Open
6/10
07.09.2014

Melodischer Deathmetal kommt meistens ja irgendwo aus Skandinavien, Deutschland holt mittlerweile auch auf. Aber aus Russland, das hat noch Seltenheitswert. "Letters.." ist schon das dritte Album der Moskauer, mir waren sie vorher noch nicht bekannt. Was mir als erstes aufgefallen ist der ziemlich hervorstechende garstige Gesangsstil der irgendwie nicht in die Genrebeschreibung passen will und dem ganzen eher einen schwarzmetallischen Hauch gibt. Dazu passt dann aber die Musik nicht ganz, getriggertes Drumming mit teils proggigen Gitarrenspiel sprechen eher für modernen Deathmetal. Puzzleteile also.....

Author: Alucard

Review
The Metal Observer
6.5/10
01.08.2014

Somewhat ironically, The Morningside’s ongoing quest for an identity all their own has seen them continuously shuffling down different musical avenues already well-trodden by a host of other acts, whether it’s the Katatonia-ish bleakness of The Wind, The Trees and the Shadows of the Past, the Agallochian bent of Moving Crosscurrents of Time or the more Prog Rock-like influence that started creeping into the mix on the TreeLogia EP. Their genre-hopping hasn’t endowed them with a whole lot of originality but here’s the kicker – these Muscovites, though somewhat schizophrenic in their pursuit of identity, are utterly adept at incorporating and emulating a wide array of styles and sounds, and doing so with so much conviction that one cannot help but tag along for the ride. I’d even go so far as to say that The Wind, The Trees and the Shadows of the Past is one of the very best Brave Murder Day-inspired pieces of musical expression this side of Daylight Dies’ Dismantling Devotion. With that in mind, let’s dive right into Letters from the Empty Towns.

Keeping with tradition, the guys have yet again latched on to a different style here, incorporating liberal doses of melodic death metal into their core doom/death style, with the product as a whole showcasing what is easily the most professional production job they’ve ever had. Now, I’m not one to begrudge the band’s decision to keep tinkering with their sound – that is simply how they roll – but in this particular instance I cannot help but feel that the Gothenburg elements ended up brightening, rather than broadening, their horizons. This essentially negates the sweeping melancholy that has always been a key component of the Morningside oeuvre. Whereas bands like Insomnium and Omnium Gatherum excel at this melodic death/doom style, The Morningside’s over-reliance on wispy melodies end up undermining the emotional punch of the songs.

“Sidewalk Shuffle” and “The Traffic Guard” are the main offenders in this regard, the stock In Flames/Nightrage riffs providing poor counterpoint to the underlying Paradise Lost style melodies (though it has to be said that the latter song starts getting it right around the 3:33 mark, when the sprightly melodies and sonorous dissonance finally start ‘clicking’). Elsewhere, “Deadlock Drive” is unadulterated Paradise Lost worship (that works), while “On the Quayside” and “Ghost Lights” see the band dipping their sonic brushes, as it were, in grey and…grey. Tracks like these are perfect for those dreary overcast days. They obviously still have what it takes to write emotionally resonant music and this just makes the inclusion of the aforementioned Gothenburg-lite elements so much more frustrating, and don’t even get me started on “Immersion,” a haphazard attempt at Meshuggah’s angular rhythms that kicks off the album in the most awkward of ways. All things considered, Letters from the Empty Towns is a palatable, if unremarkable, album that is well played and well produced but ultimately too disconcerting in terms of tone and flow.

Author: Neil Pretorius