 |
To the Night Unknown’s cover sets the tone; band and album name in simple typeface with a stark greyscale photo of flowers. It is stripped to the bone, but those bony fingers stretch toward epic heights. Morne take the slow burning riffs and the expansive guitar leads of doom metal and combine it with the bludgeoning slow build of post-metal and the minimalist composition of crust. Crushing bare-bones riffs, led by powerful drumming, underscore mournful leads and howling vocals. It’s as tightly focused as it is expansive.
Many a stoner or doom band hammers out a riff for several minutes and calls it a song. It takes a special band to make that approach work. In lesser hands, Morne's stripped-down approach could end up that way. “Less is more” says vocalist/guitarist Milosz Gassen. Like the album cover, riffs are as minimalist as can be but structured and arranged to create an engrossing whole.
Album opener and title track “To the Night Unknown” sets the album’s sonic palette; a crushing two note riff forms its backbone and its forward momentum. The riff twists and turns through variations upon which the band layers lyrical leads and supporting riffs, maintaining a balance between smothering menace and wailing agony. The focus is razor sharp, but the skill with which it all unfolds is mesmerizing. It’s an album to get lost in.
The lyrics feature a similar laser focus. All the songs speak of sadness and loss, darkness and cold, and loneliness and fear. They’re the perfect fit for the instruments giving life to the mood of the music.
The songcraft is excellent, and the album is thoroughly engrossing for those so inclined. The album length coupled with the band’s devotion to minimalism will polarize listeners. On top of the potentially divisive dichotomy of epic doom and stripped down punk aesthetics, To the Night Unknown is 67 minutes long.
Morne’s singular approach is worth it, though. They’re a unique metal voice accomplishing exactly what they set out to do. They will be exactly what many are looking for, though some may come away unmoved.