Mourning Beloveth | Interview with Darren Moore
Vocalist Darren Moore shed some light into the bleak darkness surrounding "A Disease for the Ages", read more…
"A Disease for the Ages" sees Mourning Beloveth return to a more elaborated and multi-layered sonority, largely due to the remarkable dueling of guitarists Frank Brennan and Brian Delaney, constantly crafting out slow and miserable riffs interspersed with bleak harmonies.
A characteristic that was prevalent on their enthralling second full-length "The Sullen Sulcus" and much missed on the predecessor "A Murderous Circus". What prompted this change of direction for a more demanding and diverse song writing?
“Well with “A Murderous Circus” the guitars were very desolate and empty but that was a necessary move for us at that time, the songs needed that sort of production and it was the same this time round, we try each time just a few small tweaks in the sound to create the atmosphere, we aren’t going to re-invent the wheel so…I think the more layered guitar sound was one of the few conscious decisions we made before we went into the studio this time and everything else just happens from us knowing what we want and what we need. I think the songs demanded a heavier production this time to have an overall sense of suffocation, of being in the thrall of ecstasy but at the same time having the life sucked from you.”
Previous record, "A Murderous Circus" generated some mixed reactions since its more streamlined and harsher sonority wasn't enthusiastically received by fans and press, who preferred the wider bleakness of "The Sullen Sulcus".
Did you take such observations regarding "A Murderous Circus" under consideration?
“No, as I have said many times before to people and it may sound ridiculous but we write what we want to hear, if we are not happy with it then there is something wrong and we should not be doing it. We construct and deconstruct the songs so many times at rehearsals that in the end everyone is 95% happy so when we get criticisms from fans, friends, journalists , whoever we take it on the chin, tell them our position and gently say a “fuck you”…in the nicest possible way…”
As musicians do you fell pressured or somehow limited due to the strict boundaries of a rigid style like Doom Metal and the almost nonexistent tolerance from fans for improvements?
“We write what we write for ourselves and when we are happy we record and release, as I said we are not going to re-invent the wheel we make small tweaks to our sound and writing each time we are recording an album, we are our own harshest critics and there is plenty of discussion, ripping apart and gluing together of songs and ideas before we eventually record. The only pressure we have is from ourselves.”
So what are the chances or danger of Mourning Beloveth producing a "34.788%...Complete" then?
“None, not one member is interested in electronica, we are metalheads through and through…anyway I think some other band used that name before.”
"A Disease for the Ages" evokes images of a miserable and anguished environment with little space for hope or joy, musically dragging us into a mournful and melancholic state of mind like any true Doom Metal work should do. Given the band hails from a small and Anglo-Norman town called Athy in the
“Ha…yeah we hail from the Anglo Norman town of Athy, stuck in the middle of somewhere and at the edge of nowhere where people drift through but nobody stays, the town is a bleak one factory town and it has probably helped us in our siege mentality towards our music, we were able to start and create our own sound without outside influence due to our isolation and there is a spirit in us of resilience, some call it ignorance, some stubbornness but we have not changed much from the band we were when we started still ploughing our own path of misery through the bleak and empty fields around Athy…come to visit and you won’t stay…”
"A Disease for the Ages" was once again produced by Markus Stock at Studio E in
Are you happy with the end results?
“It is exactly what we wanted, we wanted the harshness of the last album but the layered guitars of “The Sullen Sulcus" and I think we got it, Markus knew our sound from “A Murderous Circus” and so it was easier work this time round, also the fact that we were a lot more prepared this time round and so we only spent two weeks in the studio compared to three last time, we were a lot more focused and I think it comes through in the songwriting. Markus is known for his early work with Empyrium and lately Secrets of the Moon and his own band The Vision Bleak and so we knew exactly what we were doing when we went to Studio E, a cold, almost clinical style of production pair that with our sloppy playing and you have "A Disease for the Ages" hahah.”
The album also signals the debut of new bassist Brendan Roche, how is he adapting into the band's sonority and working schedules?
“Yeah he is like the sore thumb on a hand of sore thumbs. We knew Brendan for a long time, his ways and misdemeanors as he did ours so he is just like another infected sore on the body Mourning Beloveth, his dedication is without question, traveling 120km round trip to rehearsals every week without much complaint, it is like he has always been there and he should be with us as long as we are around.”
What are the future plans for the band; I understand you had to cancel a European tour due to personal problems?
“Yeah it was the first time we had to cancel a gig, let alone a tour and it was a hard decision but a necessary one and the other band members agreed with the decision. We will be playing Day of Darkness in Ireland on 6 July, Metal Maniac fest in Romania on 26 July, 6 September sees us in Lithuania at Ferrum fest, 20 Sept in Belgium at Façade of Funeral fest and then a tour in October for 10 days.
We will also be releasing Dust on vinyl in the coming months and a special split 10” with another Irish doom band is in the offing.”
Check out www.mourningbeloveth.com for more info.
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