I’ve been trying to describe what this album feels like, not what it “is,” because what it “is” depends on the day. First spin, I thought it was their most straightforward thing yet. Second spin, nope, it’s actually looser than the debut. Third spin, I stopped trying to categorize it at all. Maybe that’s the point.
Andy Small just shows up and suddenly the songs breathe differently – like someone moved a piece of furniture in a familiar room and you can’t figure out which one, but the whole place feels better. His voice has this grounded thing going on; not operatic, not doom moaning, just someone who knows how metal vocals work in real life, not on paper.
The guitars are still doom when they want to be, but they’re restless. There’s this tug-of-war happening: one part wants to drag you into the slow murk, the other part keeps pushing forward like classic metal is tapping on their shoulder saying, “remember us?” It’s not a style shift, more like the band finally letting all their influences bleed through without worrying about purity tests.
At one point I caught myself nodding along during a slower section and thinking, “this is the part where most bands pad the song,” but Mourn The Light don’t pad. They hold. That’s different. The riffs don’t meander—they simmer. And then they kick the door in again.
There’s this very “played-in-real-rooms” vibe to the whole thing. You can almost tell which songs probably came out of rehearsal jams and which ones were argued over for weeks. That’s not a complaint. That’s the charm – some tracks feel like they arrived fully formed, others like the band fought them until they snapped into place. That friction is good. I’d take that over pristine, genre-baiting stuff any day.
Production-wise, Kosto keeps everything honest. Not raw, just… not fussed with. The drums sound like drums. The guitars don’t have that slick digital coating. You hear hands on strings. You hear air moving. It still sounds like a record, not a demo, but nobody buffed it until the personality wore off.
The mood? More restless than sorrowful, honestly. The title had me expecting something slower, darker, more dramatic, but the album isn’t drowning in emotion – it’s carrying it. Like someone who had a rough year and wrote songs anyway.
If their debut was a warning shot, this one’s more like the moment the smoke clears and you realize they weren’t bluffing.
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Released by Argonauta Records on November 14th, 2025
Music source for review – Grand Sounds PR
