Band:	Mourning Dawn
Album:	The Foam Of Despair
Style:	Blackened doom metal
Release date:	January 2024

01. Tomber Du Temps
02. Blue Pain
03. Borrowed Skin
04. Apex
05. Suzerain
06. The Color Of Waves
07. Midnight Sun

It's never too early in the year for some heavy, crushing, blackened doom.

Established back in 2002, French blackened doom act Mourning Dawn are onto their fifth full-length release, which comes 17 years after their self-titled debut. On their latest offering, The Foam Of Despair, which spans just over 50 minutes, the group deliver seven tracks rooted in blackened doom, but which occasionally spill over into other genres/styles.

Starting with the lengthy opener (just shy of 10 minutes), "Tomber Du Temps", this song begins with spoken word, which seems to act as a poetic narrative intro (although helps greatly if you understand the French lingo), but this is then soon interrupted by an unleashing of pure devastation in the form of the menacing gnarly death growls of founding member Laurent Chaulet, as well as heavy bass, thunderous drumming, and steady-but-repetitive doom slogging riffs guided by a tremendously powerful tone. This combination is essentially what drives this track, and the majority of the album, forward; the rhythm mostly builds at a steady slow/mid-tempo doom pace, but striking guitar leads often make their way into the structure, and the male spoken word also makes a back-and-forth contribution over the course of the track. However, it's the surprise introduction of the saxophone in the closing minutes that saves the song from running into stale territory.

The album's diversity begins to reveal itself on the second track, "Blue Pain", which begins in a much heavier and more ferocious manner; however, it's the noticeable change in tone that I find most striking. There's also a touch of melancholy in the guitar work, where you'll hear a slight resemblance in sound and style to Brave Murder Day-era Katatonia. The standout feature on this track for me is in the vocals; there's an echoing effect behind the harsh growls that adds a certain extremity, at times sounding like the vocalist is going through uncontrollable anguish and despair.

"Borrowed Skin" is the longest track on the album, running for 11 minutes, and a definite standout, even if it has a tendency to drag on unnecessarily in the dying minutes. This song sees the synths take on a greater role that on the other tracks, and their presence is most noticeable at the beginning of the song, filling the background behind the French spoken narration. As the album continues to progress, you'll be welcomed by several further surprises along the way, from soft atmospheric passages and blackened dissonant tremolos to melancholic leads, but nothing compares to the unusuality of those crazy beats featured on "Suzerain", a track which sounds like an odd fusion of doom and dub.

At times, you'll find Mourning Dawn bone-crushingly heavy, yet melancholic and dissonant, and from the nightmarish atmospheric synths to the agonizingly desperate growls. you'll find this latest offering an ideal soundscape for a post-apocalyptic world, or even one in which to simply reflect on one's poor loathed self.