“Grieve” from Morag Tong is out this Friday

This Friday sees the launch of the new album “Grieve” from London quartet Morag Tong. Formed in 2014, This is their second album, following the release of 2018’s “Last Knell of Om”. If you’ve not heard of them before, Morag Tong are a Post-Metal/Sludge/Doom/Stoner band, and this release will certainly appeal to fans of Pallbearer, Mairu, Urne, Green Lung & Elder. They are Adam Asquith (Drums/Vocals), Alex Clarke (Guitar), Lewis Crane (Guitar) and James Atha (Bass).

On the new album vocalist/Drummer Adam Asquith stating that "we wanted to create something huge and heavy, but also gorgeous, textured and atmospheric. Incorporating both massive, aggressive wall of sound sections and more pensive, stripped back ambient instrumentals I think we have hit that sweet spot - something anguished and anxious, crumbling and dangerous, yet eerily beautiful and oozing with a love for life itself."

The new album may only have four tracks, but it is a 40+ minute masterclass in the sludge/post-metal genre. As you would expect, the guitars blast out a ferocious wall of fuzzy eardrum destroying sludge. What is impressive is the excellent mixing, which creates that magical balance they hoped for between heavy and textured. Throughout the album, the sense of layered tones dominates creating a final piece far bigger than it’s sum parts.

The opening song At First Light lasts 07:41 and meanders and shifts from mood to mood, from delicate and intricate intro to harsh and anthemic sections dripping with power and raw emotion. It’s dark and gloomy in places but has a sense of spaciousness / cinematic presence.

The vocals are exceptional, and are intense, sinister and harsh. They reminded me of Joe Nally (Urne) on their excellent album “A Feast of Sorrow”.

You can check out the video for At First Light below:

The next track Passages is the baby of the album at only 04:40 but offers an extreme style to it. Short and intense it has a thunderous and nihilistic brutality to it. No slow intimate intro, just straight into the brutality, until it transforms into a more familiar sludge style later on.

A Stem’s Embrace gives us a short respite with its beautiful melodic introduction, as the distorted fuzz builds slowly creating a cinematic soundscape you can get lost in. It kind of washes over you, like something ethereal from the likes of Darkher, with a haunting vocal line shrouded mystery. Almost half way through the drums kick in ferociously and transform the track into perhaps the heaviest and most expressive part of the album, the vocals – visceral, dripping in anger and emotion on every note.

At 20:41 the final track No Sun, No Moon is more like a song in multiple parts. The introductory section is ambient and feels almost like wind drifting out from the speakers towards you. The next section builds on this, with crashing cymbals building the intensity, with an almost Pink Floyd guitar sequence. Quite simply it’s stunning. It transforms again in the third section into a powerful doom classic. Its brilliantly done as the mellow Floyd like section, builds part by part into something huge and menacing, without you even noticing. Then it changes yet again, and transforms into a spectacular ambient piece before, once more turning into a powerhouse doom blaster. Finally the violence stops, and it returns to its initial ambient roots, fading away into a delightful oblivion.

No Sun, No Moon is an incredible, complex rollercoaster of a track. The elements are so different, and yet somehow they interlace them together perfectly and seamlessly to create something quite extraordinary. In fact, if played on a loop, as it disappears, the intro to the opening track At First Light starts up, and it is almost by design….. circular and complete !

The album is, from start to finish sublime. It has a melancholic and sorrowful feel to it, but somehow it also seems to create a sense of peace and tranquillity in places to balance it out. It’s rich textures and layering are majestic. Its raw and powerful, and quite frankly brutal at times, but yet at time… ambient and emotive.

I’ve listed to this album so many times in the last week, and I’ve revisited the review a few times to tweak and to adjust the final score. Quite frankly the sophomore release “Grieve” from Morag Tong, is simply one of the most diverse and immersive doom / post-metal albums I’ve heard. Its up there as maybe my album of the year so far and so in the end I couldn’t talk myself out of a max score of 10.

“Grieve” by Morag Tong – Is out Friday 6th October 2023 on Majestic Mountain Records and is available to order now on their Bandcamp page HERE.