Mother Of Graves - The Periapt Of Absence

Band:	Mother Of Graves
Album:	The Periapt Of Absence
Style:	Death doom metal
Release date:	October 18, 2024
A review by:	musclassia

01. Gallows
02. Shatter The Visage
03. A Scarlet Threnody
04. Apparition
05. The Periapt Of Absence
06. As The Earth Fell Silent
07. Upon Burdened Hands
08. Like Darkness To A Dying Flame

The involvement of Dan Swanö in the production of their debut EP was a good early omen of Mother Of Graves’s fortunes as a nascent death doom metal band; the two albums that they’ve gone on to release firmly back up that initial promise.

In Somber Dreams was the cream of the crop in the February 2021 edition of Clandestine Cuts, as its win in the audience vote demonstrated. It was just the following year by the time they graduated to full album status, and Where The Shadows Adorn also represented an upgrade in their writing and production levels. Sophomore album The Periapt Of Absence represents another step up, this time on the record label front, as this release comes courtesy of Profound Lore Records, and they’ve compiled some of their best material yet for this major label debut.

Mother Of Graves can best be described as a melodic death doom metal band, and all three of those adjectives/categories come into play across the album, but two of them are arguably more pivotal to its overarching appeal. Pace-wise, most of The Periapt Of Absence falls into doom territory, whether crawling along at an achingly slow tempo or pushing the dial a tad more. Examples of the former can be heard early on the album with the songs “Gallows” and “A Scarlet Threnody”, and both tracks are also great examples of the band’s outstanding penchant for resonant, sorrowful melodies. “Gallows” is truly morose throughout, with beautiful guitar leads accompanying both the glacial doom trudges and the slightly more energetic doomy melodeath riffs. “A Scarlet Threnody” takes a long time to get going, dedicating much of its first half to quasi-ambient scene-setting, but the payoff is worth it when they bring in a truly evocative guitar melody later on.

The band make good use of just the core instrumentation on these early tracks, but the second half of the album brings other instruments into play. The use of violin on the debut album is reprised here on multiple tracks, firstly on the title track; while I’m not initially entirely taken with this song, the violin arrangement becomes increasingly passionate and stirring as the end of the track approaches. The violin pops up a couple more times in the final few songs, as does piano on “As The Earth Fell Silent”, making for a subdued and moody start to what turns into a fairly dark track.

Comparisons previously used for the band’s sound, including the likes of the Peaceville trio and Katatonia, remain relevant; I also had Draconian and oddly enough Agalloch come to mind at certain moments. As with their previous releases, Dan Swanö mastered The Periapt Of Absence, and the opening stages of “Shatter The Visage” allows for the latest tribute by the band to Edge Of Sanity. In truth, this initial burst of up-tempo death metal feels a tad isolated on the album; after the opening minutes, this song moves into mid-tempo doomy melodeath, and later segues into a really enjoyable section driven by a sustained tapping guitar lead part. There are occasional glimpses of heightened intensity across the rest of the record, including with some rolling double bass during “As The Earth Fell Silent” and a blast/tremolo section in “Like Darkness To A Dying Flame”, but it does feel slightly strange to have this sole classic death metal moment early in the album, only to not reprise the style again across the rest of its runtime.

There are also a couple of other very minor nitpicks I do have with The Periapt Of Absence. To start with, there’s an odd difference in production between “Apparition” and the surrounding tracks, in comparison to which it sounds a bit muffled. It’s also one of a couple of songs, along with the title track and “As The Earth Fell Silent”, that has sections that slightly miss the mark/lack direction. On top of that, there’s an oddly sudden stop and transition late in the song that, along with some arguably unnecessary endings to songs that suddenly reprise earlier segments, makes the song structuring occasionally stumble.

These are meant to be nitpicks that don’t overly influence the experience of listening to the album, however; for all the points I made about “Apparition”, it does have a really enjoyable riff in its midsection, and some satisfying melancholic melodicism after the aforementioned sudden break. Additionally, while the death metal opening to “Shatter The Visage” does feel a tad out of place, there are standalone sonic experiments on the album that do pay off, most notably during closing song “Like Darkness To A Dying Flame”. As it enters its midsection, the band is stripped back to just bass and some accompanying atmospheric drumming, which segues nicely into quite a sinister passage, before the song (and album) finishes with a really satisfyingly stompy heavy riff.

Mother Of Graves really are at the peak of the genre when it comes to writing impactful and evocative sad guitar melodies, and their prominence on this album makes it a standout release for death doom in 2024. While there’s still minor points to perhaps work on going forward, the overall package that this band delivers is sufficiently strong and well-rounded that their place at the front of the current pack of up-and-coming death doom bands feels almost assured.

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