Tightening around the neck with slow-going, inevitably tragic result the sorrowful introspection which Indianapolis, Indiana-based melodic death/doom metal quartet MOTHER OF GRAVES intends to pass-along in grievance greets the listener in the distantly familiar mode of Romanticist poetry-infused dramatism naturally suited for the introspective space allowed by doom metal’s inherently nihilistic ponderance. A classicist thought derived and extracted from well-studied craft tempered into personalized statement this sophomore full-length album appears to reach for its own humanity, a silver-rubbed lifeforce tarnished by depression and the wilt of time, for effect and ultimately lands on an effectively resonant mood. ‘The Periapt of Absence‘ is maddeningly close to the primally gothic introspective reality of its main point of inspiration and as such it may take a moment to appreciate the above-average level of finesse and expressivity which accumulates here on their second iterative step toward this major goal. Ear piquing for its referential style and organically achieved render this album is yet valuable for its studied application of the self to situations, lived and fantasized in great existential distress.

Mother of Graves formed circa 2019 between folks who’d played together in a number of bands in the 2000’s with styles ranging from various shades of death metal to stoner metal. This particular project was entirely clear in its stylistic focus and identity from the first single (“Afraid“, 2019) as a waft of 90’s Katatonia and the general Peaceville three (re: melodic death/doom metal w/gothic rock influences) with the only caveat being that they’ve not necessarily approached clean vocals since then. The knack, the sound, the big idea was basically there but not yet tempered into dramatic presentation on their debut EP (‘In Somber Dreams‘, 2021) a clearly stated intent but a busied, frantic collision of elements which didn’t land anywhere near as potent as their full-length material since. Bringing in Dan Swanö for the final rendering of that EP didn’t necessarily salvage the lack of dramatic reverence but man, did they get it right on the money when pairing up again for the darker doldrums of ‘Where the Shadows Adorn‘ (2022) a debut LP which’d more-or-less posited a style of ‘Dance of December Souls‘ inflected death/doom metal willing to stretch into the gothic and ranting timbres of ‘Viva Emptiness‘ and early October Tide but with the heavier death metal spectrum of that style fully engaged. It’d been an entertaining debut, and still holds up as a fine album today, but I’d not had a chance to talk about it at the time.

If I were giving an elevator pitch to a friend in recommendation of Mother of Graves it’d suffice to describe it as a distillate of melodic death/doom metal, ideation with some weight given to earliest Anathema, My Dying Bride and perhaps Opeth in order to generate some more challenging interest here and there. This continues to be true in approaching what is essentially iteration, another deeper pass at this sound on ‘The Periapt of Absence‘ as the band indulges darker-rusted guitar tones and melodic leads more often while aiming for thickened atmosphere overall. As soon as the tension of opener “Gallows” breaks into its charge and works steadily toward its ‘Dance of December Souls‘-esque riff progression in chaotic layers they’ve already gripped me by the skull though this record immediately feels darker, more intense than the bright gloss of the previous LP. The crucial breakthrough here on this record finds the band exercising patience, developing atmosphere worthy of melancholic mood which best suits their guitar hook built voicing with enough room to breathe and resound. The anxious push found on their EP, and to some slight degree on their first LP, now rolls steadied as a desert-bound tank through its dirges. That said, the opening piece also finds its point of rise and transcends, lifts into toiling movement for just a moment before its five minute drift ends and starts off the album with what is essentially a long-winded reintroduction.

All stigmata are gaping, all ceilings are all studded with chain-fed meathooks, and all these folks need to do is find a hook and break the flesh with it to pull me into this world. “Shatter the Visage” does this with some urgency, achieving one of Mother of Graves‘ most directly effective songs to date between its brief death metal rampage and psyche-wounding lead guitar hook. Sure, if you know the breadth of variety available to 90’s melodic death/doom metal the Swedeath pummel into this song isn’t shockingly original but I’d appreciated how directly shot the trajectory of this song was as the band’d gotten to their big hook with some tact and still had more to say, continuing to develop the moment. This isn’t the full directive of ‘The Periapt of Absence‘ in a nutshell yet but a moment they’ve bumped up front to best showcase the development of the bands melodic voice at its most clear and recognizable function; Side A is stacked otherwise with the brunt of its impact landing within the gravity-sink of “A Scarlet Threnody” a piece which threatens to dissolve the jogging momentum of their step with its nearly three minute introduction before revealing an even more sophisticated, densely set statement. Developing the suggested patient sprawl of this album becomes the major task at hand for the next several songs as they develop sentiment within the more performative side of gothic doom going forward.

“The Periapt of Absence” embraces a condensed version of the melodramatic extremes available to melodic death/doom metal standards around their mid-to-late 90’s peak where spoken word, full embrace of gothic metal chorales, wailing string arrangements and other extra touches that’d preceded an era of progressive metal attuned death/doom metal bands later on. Mother of Graves generally focus on digging deeper into the romanticist angle of things and this is a brilliant way of standing out as many revivalist bands, or those who’d always kept the faith, rarely braved those wilds after they’d become wildly unpopular throughout the 2000’s. “As the Earth Fell Silent” is probably the most ambitious use of strings, piano, and synth in order to build up the reveal of the song itself accentuating a fairly typical declarative opening movement for the sake of characterizing its surroundings before reeling rhythm guitar stretches and a focus on the drum performance (one of the best on the album) reminds us that they’re still primarily interested in an early 90’s sound. Though I hadn’t lost interest in the full listen at this point this’d been one of a few songs that’d called back to the core purpose of the band in a unique way with a guitar arrangement that carried on that tortured, internalized feeling inherent to thier best work.

Much as I enjoyed some of these moments along the way the real conversation here only just picks back up briefly again within “Upon Burdened Hands“, a crumbling melody interrupted by a full stop and gently revived refrain w/spoken word that’d recalled the transitive delirium of the second Dream Unending record, eh, sans their outright progressive rock structuring. At that point the songcraft had developed a pro-voiced interest yet the performances reached peak verbage well before the end of Side A, Mother of Graves still have more to say but their vernacular is kinda spent beyond one more great melody (re: “Upon Burdened Hands”). Retaining the death metal aspect of their sound, at all, involves shouted death metal vocals via Brandon Howe (Obscene) who extends himself into spoken word too frequently during Side B otherwise having exhausted the possibilities of harsh cadence beyond ranting accost early on. With this in mind the thread, the narrative spreads out over the second half as a way of filling space as the album burns through its greater layers of parallax interest, developing more gothic metal values and launching a few minor hooks in the process while avoiding any ‘Draconian Times‘ level of escalation of this sound just yet.

More death, more (gothic) doom… — Each of these ~5-6 minute songs could use more detail and/or directive in some sense. Increased use of the piano is astute in every case and Corey Clark‘s basslines are generally a nice touch when awakened yet a basal level of songwriting persists with some point of presentation in mind, a sensibility for impact which showcases the patient yet pained demeanor built by Mother of Graves over the last couple of years. But does it move me? Actually the death metal attuned sensibilities of the composers here do well to entertain even when aiming for guitar hooks and subtle rhythmic turns, some of which are sweet enough to return to repeatedly despite the most exciting developments being largely built on “modern” exaggerations of Katatonia‘s own bold set of (early) melodic ideas and rhythmic nuance of a specific era/movement in melodic doom metal. All is familiar yet the perspective is different enough to warrant an approach (and return) with some depth.

As I’d stepped into the Mother of Graves portal once more and taken a long stare at my surroundings I’d been more thrilled to hear this style melodic death-doom metal done right than anything else. To steep within this largely notable set of songs in this style was a joy but admittedly not a connection with the sorrowful verve found within, at least not on a personal level. The internalized dread and gothic poetry-infused work herein is substantial, memorable, effective in some sense but it did not revive the core depressive within and compel it to dance along outright. To be fair this’d just as well be attributed to becoming increasingly dead inside over the years, unable to access the dysphoric core of my brain on demand, and yet I’d still appreciated the dire yet confrontational feeling of their work per an organic-yet-surreal sound delivered in an authentic, somewhat updated vision of the old ways. By honing in on specific taste and capturing the most brilliant essences of early melodic death-doom ‘The Periapt of Absence‘ remains entertaining, almost too appreciably engaging as their burdensome points of despondency are diarized in rich gothic doom metal tapestry. A high recommendation.

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