Band:	The 11th Hour
Album:	Burden Of Grief
Style:	Doom metal
Release date:	October 2009

01. One Last Smoke
02. In The Silent Grave
03. Origins Of Mourning
04. Weep For Me
05. Atonement
06. Longing For Oblivion

It is actually a disgrace that it took me this long to finish this review. All in all, it has, somehow, taken me about five whole months. Why, you might ask? Well, first of all, it seems that I happen to be one of the worse procrastinators in the world of reviewing. Second of all, some albums are apparently hard to review and find the right words for, be it bad or good or average. Burden Of Grief is such an album. Not that it is bad or average, hell no, it is a very good album. Why else would we as Metal Storm staff nominate it in both the 'Best Doom Metal Albums' and 'Best Debut Albums' categories for the Metal Storm Awards 2009?

Listening to this album one thing becomes totally clear. Sometimes life isn't fair at all when it comes to handing out talent. Why? Well, what we have here is a new 'band' by master drummer Ed Warby (Hail Of Bullets, Gorefest, Demiurg, Ayreon, Star One, Elegy ). Not only has he taken care of the drumming on Burden Of Grief but also the bass playing, guitars, clean vocals and programming. And all of those he does more than proficiently. The only aspect he doesn't handle here are the grunts. Those come courtesy of his Demiurg bandmate Rogga Johansson.

Looking at Ed's current and past bands one would think it is safe to asume that The 11th Hour is either a death metal band or something progressive. Well, better guess again. It is, wait for it, a doom metal band. And as it says on the cover of the album "For fans of Candlemass & Paradise Lost". That advertisement isn't too far from the truth for Burden Of Grief contains the epic nature of a Candlemass and the melancholy of a Paradise Lost. Which is not to say that The 11th Hour comes across as a mere carbon copy of those two bands. Hell no, The 11th Hour possesses enough individuality to make it stand out in the increasingly ever more popular doom scene.

What is it that makes this addition to the doom family stand out? It is most probably Ed Warby's clean vocals which might remind one of Buddy Lackey (a.k.a. Devon Graves) of Psychotic Waltz and Deadsoul Tribe fame. So, nice clean, well-articulated vocals that, although coming across fragile, possess enough power not to be overwhelmed by the music.
Musically Burden Of Grief also has more than enough to offer. Within songs epic moments are alternated with more subdued and contemplative moments only to erupt into agressiveness again. The music thus fits the album's concept of that of someone dying of a lung disease (lung cancer maybe? Maybe it's a good idea to ask Ed to comment on the concept by means of a "song by song"-article. The Song By Song explaining the story behind Burden Of Grief has been done by Ed Warby and can be read here). But it's not only clean vocals all the way through the album. The dynamics are helped a lot by, not only the musical variation but also, the addition of grunts, courtesy of Rogga Johansson (Paganizer, Bone Gnawer, Demiurg, Edge Of Sanity, Ribspreader, The Grotesquery, and many others).

Like I just mentioned, lyrically the album is a concept about someone (be it a man or a woman) dying of a lung disease (somehow I keep on thinking lung cancer, could it be due to the first song being called "One Last Smoke"?). So, a subject befitting doom metal. The lyrics in combination with the music are delivered in such a way that I can't happen to shake of the feeling that it is all very personal and close at heart for Ed Warby. Live the emotions are poured forth even more than here on this silver disc.

In conclusion, it is safe to say that Burden Of Grief is an extremely strong, debut, album, be it within its genre (doom), or metal in general. I could recommend this album to anyone who likes his or her metal emotive, well-written, well-preformed and well-produced (clear yet powerful sound accentuating the music where needed). Even if you're not into doom metal be sure to give Burden Of Grief a chance.