Even though I thought that this album had something to do with too much melody, melancholic Goth stuff or something like that, I wanted to review it since it is a Casket release (and Casket has released many good stuff in my opinion). It seems I was totally wrong. SOLEY MOURNING have nothing to do with the aforementioned stuff. I admit that this band was a pleasant surprise for me.

SOLEY MOURNING were formed in January 2005. They were previously known as FALLEN. As SOLEY MOURNING, they haven't done anything worth to be mentioned here. Up to now, they were just preparing tracks for this album and playing live shows. Now, having signed to Casket, they released their debut album, Mambo County.

With Mambo County, SOLEY MOURNING deliver their way of how Hard Rock should sound like. Even though the album starts with two songs of pure Hard Rock enriched with some Southern Rock elements and full of this happy feeling these songs produce, the album continues with slow songs full of melancholic melodies and whiny ballads. The fact that the lyrics are too pessimistic does not mean that the song suck or something like that, but you can't start with two very nice Hard Rock songs and end up crying about your ex girlfriend that left and won't come back. Anyway, since I am a ballad lover, I really enjoyed this album, although I would prefer to see the name Ballad Collection on it instead of Mambo County. The eleven songs of this album (twelve with a hidden one) are very well structured and Mat's voice fits like a glove to the compositions. Even though it could be a very nice album, the lack of consistency is a very weak point.

To tell you the truth, even though I enjoyed listening to it, I would not spend money to buy it. And I admit I still listen to it and I will continue doing so, but most of you will consider this album as a waste of money. Suggested only to ballad lovers, die-hard rockers and fans of bands like PEARL JAM (even if these guys are hard rockers, they have some similarities to PEARL JAM).