This is one of the gigs I had been looking forward to a lot. The Australians of Mournful Congregation released an excellent album last year called “The Book of Kings”. And the gigs they did a couple of years ago were awesome. And now they were back with a short headlining tour through Europe.

Shadow of the Torturer were already playing when I entered the venue. This trio play sludgy and minimalistic doom / death at a very slow pace. The guitar strikes some powerchords with some occasional melodies, and the bass and drums plod on and on. I couldn’t really tell how many songs they played as it was mostly all just knitted together. Not bad, but in the end a bit dull.

Then there was The 11th Hour. A Dutch doom metal band by the drummer of Gorefest who handles nearly everything in the studio, but live only does the clean vocals and guitar. I never really liked this band much though – too generic doom, and tedious vocals. And three guitars is a bit overdone for this band. Never the less not too bad.

The beautiful intro of the June Frost album – “Solemn Strikes the Funeral Chime” – was played over the PA and after a minute or two the might Mournful Congregation stepped onto the stage. And when the intro finished they started with the terrific opening track of the “The Monad of Creation” album – “Mother – Water, the Great Sea Wept”. Well as all their songs are quite long, it took them nearly 20 minutes to complete this song. The pace is generally very slow – I doubt they ever exceed 80 bpm – but filled with amazing melodies and leads. The second song is an excellent example of this – “The Waterless Stream” off “The Book of Kings”. The opening lead work is nothing short of amazing. And they at least put the three guitars to some work with harmonies and double leads. “The June Frost” was touched with a real song as well, namely “Suicide Choir”. And to return to the “The Monad of Creation” album for the final song with the title track. I was looking forward to this ever since the gig was announced some months ago, but they didn’t fail to impress once again. One of the best doom band around.