VOTD 3/26/2023

 Mourner: Still (no label)

Purchased in the record store where Mind Cure and Cruel Noise used to be.

I'm so behind on listening to recently purchased vinyl. It didn't stop me from purchasing a few things today.

The sticker on this read: Doom $5. I'm not one to generally buy metal, but some things caught my eye on this. It has a folded over cover, indicating it was probably assembled by hand. The players in this group are not only the standard voice/guitar/bass/drums, but also are credited with harmonium, Echoplex, drones, tape loops, noise, and field recordings. That catches my attention, and the price was worth a gamble.

I've mentioned Khanate on this blog before, my admiration for not only their utter bleakness but their determined anti-virtuosity. Their records are so slow and at times empty, I don't understand how they keep track of where they are.

I've written before about the trap of talking about influences. "Who are your influences?" I mean, okay go ahead and ask, but unless it's a blatant copy of something, the music should stand on its own without concern for precedents. This record has two side side-long parts one and two, with a short introduction. There was a moment early on the second side where I had to check I hadn't put on a Khanate record. There are other slow grinding doom metal bands, but my guess is Mourner listened to their share of Khanate. 

While most of the album is slow, hard hitting chords and rhythms (no soloing at all), the end of the second side evaporates into a haze of low level noise that's out of the ordinary. Maybe that's where all the unusual credits come in.

Discogs.com indicates that this band came from Nashville. Good. I like seeing things like this come from unusual places. This dates to 2009 (there's a myspace.com address in the notes), a second album from 2010, and a split EP from 2012. I they're no longer together, as you might guess. Guitarist Mike Meachem has a label that seems to continue to release music once in a while, often in cassette form. (Feh. I don't miss cassettes. I have some great ones that contain important documentation, but it was the format at the time.) It takes so much effort to keep going. keep releasing, keep a band together.

Maybe there are details I missed on first listening, I'll return to this sometime. Especially if I feel depressed, that's when I "enjoy" (lacking a better word) listening to bleak, depressing music.