Old Horn Tooth - Mourning Light

Old Horn Tooth – Mourning Light
Release Date: 5th July 2023
Label: London Doom Collective / Evil Noise Recordings (limited edition tape)
Bandcamp
Genre: Doom, Stoner.
FFO: Jointhugger, Monolord, YOB, Slabdragger.
Review By: Mark Young

It has to be said that when I first checked this out, albeit briefly, the song lengths gave me cause for concern. I’m not the greatest doom/stoner fan, and although I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing some crackers this year I was brought up on Thrash, Speed and later Death Metal, and they have remained my go to.

Rising background noise that slowly unfolds, slowly as a hammer starts to strike and then the opening guitar, coming in with one of the densest sounds that has been committed to tape. This is Precipice, and it’s heavy. Super heavy. Enter Chris Jones, whose vocal delivery is exactly what you expect it to be – measured, coordinated with the riffs behind it. It’s crushing, oppressive, and moves in a way that belies its length. There is a subtle change around the 9-minute mark as the guitar draws back, drums and bass continuing to lay down, and it becomes almost hypnotic in its execution. I don’t think I’ve heard songs of this length continue to keep you hooked. The guitar sound is magical, not overwhelming, just pitched perfectly as it feeds out at the end. No Salvation comes in with more of the thick, fuzz-soaked riff magic, this time with a lead break, played with emotion, matching the lyrics that follow it. There is a riff that comes in that switches up how the song plays out; It is incredibly simple but set against the overall arrangement it is fantastic. It loops back to the opening chords, the vocal phrasing adding to it to make it rattle around your brain for ages afterwards. There is such a command here, that the quiet breaks they put in don’t detract from heavier sections. There is some magic being used here because again the time elapsed doesn’t match how quickly the song runs by. It’s monumental, haunting, and we are only halfway through.

Mourning Light is where it decides to up the ante. A quiet start then feedback and then one of the best guitar earworms ever springs forth. It’s just fantastic, simple but so effective, and it’s difficult to really convey how well this song works. The band themselves call this an exploration into the sadness of loss, and also the hope associated with gradually coming through it. It is a near 15-minute opus that contains some of the heaviest riffs you will hear this year. That overriding sense of emotion that came through earlier is in every drum strike, every riff, and it ends on an uplifting note. There are not many who can write songs like this, and certainly not at this length. I know nothing of what they are like live, all I can say is that this would be an event. It’s Magnificent.

Invisible Agony rounds off proceedings, a slow burn start with those class drums doing their thing, taking their time to build until they hit go and the fuzz comes in, repeating the measure over and over. Once the vocals start, we are in familiar territory as those lines come in for the final time. The use of strings here adds so much, as much as knowing how and where to bring the riffs in. It is effortless, at least to me. The way this leads out, the strings returning, that repeated measure, the hypnotic drums coming together as a rising background noise (is it a flanger?) give it that otherworldly flavour. For me, Mourning Light is still THE track here, but for scope and ambition this runs it an extremely close second.

Everything about this album is just perfect. From the guitar sound, how the bass (Ollie Jones, step forward) provides the foundation for the songs to move and the drums (Mark Davidson, take a bow), which are just spot on, providing the propulsive action that keeps you always engaged. From that first listen about a week or so ago, I’ve had this on in work as a means of blocking out the noise around me, working away this week has meant time to also listen to this after work and I think that my experience has benefited from this. There is no doubt that if you love Doom, then you will love this. There is also no doubt that this will also appeal to those like me, you just need to ignore the song lengths and give it time and your full attention. Because it deserves it.