Dead Mariners - Night Of The Fallen Morbid (2011) - Gothic, melodic and soft symphonic black metal - 76% (01/08/12)

Dead Mariners are a melodic symphonic black metal band with a couple of gothic and progressive influences that comes from Patan which is one of the biggest cities in Nepal. The band is comparable to other amateur bands of the same genre such as Cryptik Howling from Rouyn-Noranda in Québec but they are clearly influenced by more famous bands such as Cradle Of Filth. The more gothic influenced parts could also please to fans of bands such as the German Crematory.

The enjoyable thing about this young band is that they focus on the atmosphere. The rhythms are rather slow and many melodic guitar or keyboard passages dominate this record that has only a few fast blast beat passages. The band varies from quite catchy songs as the engaging album closer "Antim Yaachana" for which a music video has been made to more progressive tracks such as the longest song on this release that is called "Layman". The latter one convinces with an excellent melodic guitar work and a chilling middle part with a focus on symphonic elements, catchy but not cheesy piano melodies and laid back guitar chords that create an enchanting atmosphere. This kind of melodic black metal could also please to fans of other and softer metal genres. Fans of brutal and raw underground stuff should though skip this release.

The mixture of English and Nepali lyrics throughout this record is interesting but without sounding too exotic or experimental which can be seen both as an advantage or a disadvantage. Anyway, one can clearly understand what the singer is singing about which is a positive fact. His vocals are energizing and could also come from a melodic death metal band. Except of the lack of crazy and fast parts, his skills remind me a little bit of Children Of Bodom in the more melodic tracks. His pronounciation concerning the English lyrics is though far away from perfection. Some lyrical topics also seem to be a little bit stereotypical.

The production is not always of an equal quality on this album. In some tracks, the keyboards are in the background and work as excellent supporting instruments while the focus is on the melodic guitar riffs and soli. In other songs, the keyboards are too dominant and sound quite poor and badly produced. It's the same thing for the drumming that sometimes sounds rather good but in other songs too tinny and tame. The bass is also rather inaudible in most of the tracks and therefor only the vocals and guitars can entirely convince. On the other side, one should take into consideration the band's budget and its origins. From that point of view, this first strike is a solid effort despite its productional flaws.

Musically, this band has some talent and I like their melodic and symphonic approaches of the black metal genre. At some points, this kind of music even sounds too soft to be described as black metal but that's not necessarily a negative point. Therefor, this release could easily please to fans of gothic and symphonic metal or even those who like dark power metal without too much kitsch. Some tracks on this release though sound too alike. The band proves in their more progressive parts tat they can vary a lot and therefor this release should have included more diversity. I wouldn't call these similar tracks faceless but it takes a couple of spins to distinguish them from each other.

In the end, I hope that these guys keep their concept and carry on to release this kind of music. Nevertheless, there is still plenty of space for improvements. If the band adds some diversity, get a better and more consistent production and work on some lyrics, these guys from Nepal might hopefully even get some international attention one day.