Midmourner - Adorned in Fear and Error (Album Review)

By: Eric Crowe

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 18/7/2015

Label: Independent

This is a powerful dirge of a debut release that really embraces the sound and feel of the true definition of Sludge. Heavy and slow as molasses with gritty samples thrown into the mix; and from what I have heard they absolutely leave everything on the stage when they play!

“Adorned in Fear and Error” CD//DD track listing:

1. Torrentials

2. A Year We’ve Filled With Empty

3. Exchanging Piss For Ruin

4. Wolf in the Baby’s Crib

5. A Salting of Circles

6. New and Unfortunate Blessing

The Review:

Welcome to the days when titans such as Mugwart, Gods Iron Tooth, Grief and Leechmilk walked the earth; labels like Shifty Records, Mans Ruin and Berserker were the source of great mind melting music and Stonerrock.com was still in existence. Those were amazing days for Sludge, but those days aren’t forgotten by any means, especially with the likes of Midmourner rising up from the ashes of the past.

Midmourner hail from Birmingham, AL, and members include remnants of the sludge heavyweights Molehill and Residue. These guys know and remember those days, and it shows with the sheer weight of these tunes. “Adorned in Fear and Error” is 29 minutes of misery drenched sludge with a couple shots of an oxycotin / hydrocodon cocktail for good measure. Bass and guitar tones bulldoze through with a massive murky trod in a way that is nothing less than perfect for this style. Both blend well into this wall of cranial crushing power through tracks like, “A Year We’ve Filled With Empty” “Wolf in the Baby’s Crib” and “A Salting of Circles.”

The vocals (Shane George) are fuckin’ spot on! Larynx shredding highs and growls that confirm mans demise; and leave you barren of hope or care. I would have to say this is his finest vocal display to date. Drums can not be dismissed here what-so-ever. Keeping mainly in the pocket, which a lot of drummers forget how to do, which make these tracks so hard hitting. From the tracks that are slow / mid paced, to tracks like, “Torrentials” and “Exchanging Piss for Ruin” that swing a heavy hammer and have a more crusty sludge drive to them. This is a powerful dirge of a debut release that really embraces the sound and feel of the true definition of Sludge. Heavy and slow as molasses with gritty samples thrown into the mix; and from what I have heard they absolutely leave everything on the stage when they play! 

‘Adorned in Fear and Error’ is available via their bandcamp page

FFO: Molehill, Residue, Mugwart, Leechmilk

Band info: bandcamp | facebook