Morning Dead - Desde el Otro Lado

Who says funeral doom has to be presented in long form only?  Although I love a long song as much as next doom fan, not every song or album needs to break records for the longest piece of music ever written.  It's easy to think otherwise, but the sound of funeral doom doesn't really have anything to do with the runtime of a song.  It has to do with the mood, atmosphere, the approach, and the straight up goddamn permeating miasma of sorrow.  

Morning Dead's 'Desde el Otro Lado' has all this down to a very fine detail and they don't have to spend twenty minutes per song to get the message across.  The longest song is still under the six minute mark and the overall runtime of these tracks is around 40 minutes.  This is a different approach to funeral doom than most bands of the style would take.  This shorter approach to the genre allows the band to only include what needs to be here.  There isn't any moments of three minute long silences or long outros that do nothing but waste time and pretend to add depth.   This is compact, pure, and highly engaging funeral death doom.  I found myself more and more impressed with this album the more I listened to it.  Another advantage of taking this approach to the genre is that the whole album is easy to digest and repeat in one setting.  This makes the songs, the details, sink in much faster and stay with you longer.  

Another standout dynamic of this album is how musical it is.  It doesn't start with a standard intro...the band named this track 'Overture' and that is exactly what it is.  It may take a different approach musically but it is the leading track of similarly themed ones to follow.  For all intents and purposes, this an album that unfurls like a play or opera: it has strong individual moments but it works best when listened to from beginning to end in one setting.  This is one giant moving piece and it needs to be treated as such for full effect. 

The band doesn't rest on the same riff over and over and over like a lot of funeral doom nor does it have much in the way of guitar that is just there to only create a mood and act more like a blanket of heavy than true notes.  The songs here are much more involved with that and each piece leads to the next. In essence, this is very "song oriented" and it is all the better for it. 

After 'Overture,' comes 'Inmerso en el Abismo.'  This song begins with very murky guitar and melancholic harmonies.  After about a minute, a hellish growl is let loose and claws at the surface of the riffs.  It is very exciting despite the deeply dark mood and I found myself immediately hooked. 

Soon as it ends, 'Amanecer de Muerte' begins and brings with it Gothic tinged lead guitar that brushes up against the strong riffs.  It is all risen up by robust double bass and truly wonderful death growls.  The melody passes by one more time before the song releases a diabolical guitar tone that is actually kind of frightening. 

'Desolaction' is one of the more straight forward songs on the album, nearly pure death doom but with the same textures and nuances that make it another strong piece to this musical tapestry.  The clean keys and the guitar suite each other so well despite their different approaches.  The atmosphere grows more ominous throughout before it trails back off to clean keys that leads us to.....

'....Viento Austral' and its aural assault.  The clean keys are gone, replaced by furious snare driven attacks and the keyboards providing a more sinister backdrop.  The bass and drums are especially good here, constantly highlighting the song's intentions. 

'Agonia Putrefacta,' is lumbering behemoth of a track.  The drums are on point, cracking the whip at just the right moment to accent the riffs.  The bass is its own beast entirely and its tone is perfect: deep, strong and able to enhance song's mood.  There are moments of speed to make the slithering snake-like notes even more venomous.  

'Hadal' is an ambient piece but it fits right in after the aforementioned song and leads into the next one.  It's tones are not spacious or sunny----it may not be a 'metal' track but its just as claustrophobic and hopeless and serves its purposes well.  

'Suplicio' is the next one and its sweltering riffs are just what was needed at this point in the album.  This song has kind of a baroque feel to it, very deep in tone in all aspects with a natural, raw power behind it. 

'Grito del Alma' is the soundtrack to the end of the world but despite the mood, it is beautiful in a very surreal way. If I picked out a favorite moment on this album, it would probably be this one.  The scope of the song is cinematic and sweeping but not in a bombastic way.  This introspective look is one that leads to the deepest of holes, a panoramic darkness. 

'Naufragio,' ends the album with clean pianos and ambient textures, a sort of stormy movement with the keys being drops of acid rain. It kind of reminds of 'Desolacion' in a few ways and I've no doubt that was done on purpose.    A fitting end to this album.  

This album is quite the dark passion play and one the more unique and interesting doom albums I've heard this year.  "Desde el Otro Lado' is definitely a grand piece of music that can appeal to both doom and non-doom fans (or even people who don't even like metal) because of it's dismal yet thoughtful approach to the genre.