A bunch of Swedes who emulate Fear Factory more than Entombed. This sort of thing could certainly help the death metal balance of trade. And while Mourning Sign really doesn't have the chops or innovation to match Fear Factory (perhaps the top death metal band in the world at the moment), at times the sound is pretty cool. Perhaps if the guys stuck to the more industrial side of things and did more Maiden-esque choruses (as on "Ashes of My Relics", which also sounds a lot more like Entombed), they might find a little more of their own sound. Merging the Swedish and NYC death metal traditions can be a bitch. On the previous EP and this album, Mourning Sign has shown real progress towards that goal. Only time will tell.
This rules! I was really impressed with this one. It is Death Metal with a
very doom edge. They use a couple of different vocal styles, Death and non
Death. Both of which are very good. They also do a very good job of
changing tempos. They go from extremely fast to a doom sound and then back
to extremely fast. It really keeps the music interesting. This is an EP so
there are only four songs but it is very worth purchasing. Very original,
very interesting, very catchy. Check it out. GODHEAD (MW)
Issue #22
December 95
Ouch! I was expecting somber dirge metal. The sorrowful name and less-is-less CD cover did not prepare me for the opening assault. A roar. Hyperspeed drumming. Lightning leads. Then the Entombed-esque chop and slash attack comes in with a dramatic burst of speed to break up the chugging. A few choruses flip between snarling and hummable melody, a rolling guitar style similar to old Death and Kreator is contrasted by the stomping of recent hardcore metal, and the beats show off a new superspeed drummer. Creative (and sporadic) use of synths, discordant noise riffs, melodic solos and far, far more, make Mourning Sign a true cross-genre masterpiece of metal.
Scott Hefflon
Copyright © 1995 Lollipop Magazine
I don't know how this band did it, but they managed to combine walls of
furious blast beats with carpets of plush melodic settings. Most of the
songs managed to beat my head in but, at the same time, they allowed me to
take a quick breath, too. The guitar work is clean and respectable and
slightly reminiscent of Iron Maiden.
At first, this was hard to digest because it seemed incohesive. But, after
further listenings, my line of thinking has changed. So if you see this,
pick it up, and be patient whilst you listen, and reap your audio reward.
Michael T. Fournier
Copyright ©: 1995 Jeremy Wernow, revised whenever I feel like it.
Tracks: Just another Jesus/I 'll be dancing/Subtle climax/Repent/The piper/ Get real/Seed of Revival/My turn to sleep/Temptress/Neerg/A new life. This amazing Swedish band is pretty difficult to be defined with just a label as their sound tends to be like a compilation of extreme music styles, except for the case of black metal. The music is mostly based in a powerful and energetic death/thrash metal basis which is completed with doomy/sabbath-ish/groovy parts, some Pantera-ish moments -specially for the agressive and straight in your face killer vocals-, some strong metal roots and even soem paranoias sounding to country/boggie/hard rock a la D.A.D. in the Neerg track (which I assume must be like a kind of joke). Too bad this band is signed to a relatively small label as they have an amazing instrumental/compositive ability to condense what many other bands did before in a personal and unique sound, making this CD to be a fresh and agressive piece from the first to the last second, very rich in hints and moods. A totally enjoyable album from a band who is 1000 more talented than the overrated Messugah (just to name an example).
In high school I remember my English teacher (who was later arrested for
being a pervert but I'll save that for a future article) tried to teach us
the meaning of the words static and dynamic. Most of us got a lousy grade on
the test because high school is boring and the class started at 7:40 in the
morning. Oddly enough I can remember the words to this day and can't help
thinking "dynamic" when I hear this album. One moment your listening to this
nice acoustic guitar with a melodic vocal chorus to accompany it and the
next minute your hearing guttural growls and blast beats, then suddenly it
breaks into a keyboard solo that catches the attention of your roommate who
listens to nothing heavier then Billy Joel. That sums it up pretty well,
It's a dynamic album. Personally I like it, it's got the heavy parts I look
for in an album while taking the occasional break to try something a bit
different and break the monotony that some death metal albums (but not all)
achieve. Overall... A thumbs up!
By Jeremy Wernow
Copyright ©: 1996 Jeremy Wernow, revised 4 - 15 - 96.
This is already the second full-length album of the band. Back in 1995
they released their first full-length Mourning Sign and Alienor, a
mini-CD with the material of their second demo (1993).
Multiverse is definitely the more original album of this Swedish death
metal band -though 'death metal' is likely unaccurate here. I wouldn't
say the best since this one is very weird (you like it or you don't like it,
that's just a matter of taste), but the music still sounds like MOURNING
SIGN ! This album features 11 songs for about 45-50 minutes.
All songs are very different from each others and you will always be
surprised by them when you listen to Multiverse : most of the time, there
are killer death vocals (more or less high pitched, but always aggressive)
and clean/goth vocals as well (listen to 'NEERG' !). MOURNING SIGN
manage to mix many styles in their music : the first song ('Just Another
Jesus') is very fast and includes a flamenco part in it (yes, believe it or
not, it's true !!); 'Get Real' creates a kind of medieval (Kari prefers the
word of Celtic) atmosphere with electric violin; 'A New Life' features a
part with acoustic guitars...
Another point I'd like to underline are the lyrics. Unlike most of death
metal lyrics, they don't deal with death/gore/horror but are very
personnal. And no, 'Just Another Jesus' has nothing in common with
black metal. My fave songs are 'Just Another Jesus', 'I'll Be Dancing'
(though I didn't like this one that much at the beginning), 'Get Real'
and 'NEERG', but the whole album is worth listening -especially if
you're looking for something new and original.
Mourning Sign quietly blew me away with their selftitled 1995 debut. considering their nationality (Swedish) and age (young) they showed an incredible amount of individuality. Falling somewhere between Fear Factory and At The Gates, they cyberrocked and rolled and generally kicked ass. And so it was with high hopes that I tossed album number two, 'Multiverse', into the CD player. Thwack!
Everything that made the first album so forcefully convincing has been distiled into an even more potent cocktail of malice and weirdness. Guitarist, songwriter and apparent genius Kari Kainulainen has opened himself up to a whole new range of influences, from Flamenco to Folk to Jazz to total Grindcore lunacy, and incorporated everything - and I mean everything - into Mourning Sign's sound. At The Gates continue to spring to mind as a reference point, although it is the vitriol of sweden's sorely missed national heroes that Kainulainen has inherited, not the riffing style. 'Multiverse' moves and grooves like few. For the cutting edge of innovative Nineties Metal, look no further.