To play Doom/Sludge Metal demands a lot of talent sometimes.

Imagine yourself playing a style, nasty, bitter and slow, where you can become really bored easily. Yes, to play this specific Metal style demands a lot from the bands and musicians, so, if you're in the will to follow it, take care. And the Birmingham quintet MIDMOURNER has a long way to go. Their EP "Adorned In Fear And Error" is a clear proof how to play in such way is a trial.

Of course they play in a very hard and slow way, with some heavy and distorted songs, but they really lacks a good sound production. Is not because you play a style that has an dirty and bitter identity that you can sound in a way that turns your whole work into something we can understand. It's nothing like to plug guitars and bass guitar in a distortion device and start to play as dirty and slow as you can. No, you must do things with a bit of clearness to be understood. Sorry, but the "fuck you" style of recording does not make sense sometimes. The production done really condemned a good work, because the band shows musical talent sometimes, with harsh shrieked vocals, very good riffs, and a heavy rhythmic basis (besides the bass guitar could be played in some tunes not as distorted as we hear on this EP).

As I wrote above, the sound quality is truly dirt and raw. But there's a level to do so, and on the EP, they went too far, beyond the level needed, and to comprehend their playing on the instruments is very difficult.

It's a pity, because "Torrentials" (with some very good guitars riffs and vocals in the middle of bitter slow tempos), "A Year We've Filled With Empty" (almost a funeral procession chant, using a good work from rhythmic kitchen, besides the distorted tunes on bass guitars are really too noisy), "New And Unfortunate Blessing" (good song, but due the sound quality, in some moments, we can't understand what they are doing, because everything becomes a fuzzy mess), and "The Salting Of Circles" (a bitter hell, slow as a funeral, but their distorted tunes becomes really difficult to be understood sometimes) could be fine samples of a good band. But not with such distorted and filth quality.

Better luck next time, guys. You have talent, but you need a better producer.