Mourn are a Barcelona based band that started creating waves in the Indie circle with their self titled album about 2 years ago. I enjoyed the album, I didn't love it completely, but I saw tons of potential. I loved the moody, sort of dark atmosphere Mourn had, and when I saw them last summer they put on a fantastic live performance. Let's dive right into their new album, "Ha, Ha, He".
The album starts off with an upbeat instrumental piece, "Flee". Now, I honestly have enjoyed Mourn in the past at their more upbeat, and this is certainly upbeat, and very energetic. It's also certainly chaotic, much more chaotic than a lot of the material on their self titled debut. However chaotic "Flee" gets though, it still comes off well produced and smooth. Honestly, an instrumental intro was a really solid choice for Mourn, something I really hadn't even thought about. It's nothing too groundbreaking, but it's exciting, and it's honestly sets the tone for the album very well. Up next we have "Evil Dead" (which may or may not be named after one of my all time favorite movies). This track is much slower than the opener, but it's filled with those great moody moments that made their previous album enjoyable. The chorus here just keeps creeping up and up, creating one of the more twisted sounding moments from Mourn. However, it's oddly really catchy. The instrumentals are pretty straightforward, but "Evil Dead" honestly acts as a really super medium between the bands more upbeat material and slower material. Up next is "Brother Brother", a slower, much crunchier sounding track. This is really one of the first great examples of just how big their sound has gotten, especially in the last few years. The band had a pretty solid sound to begin with, but a lot of little details here are making their sound pretty huge. The vocal harmonies for example on "Brother Brother" are absolutely perfect. They make the already moody atmosphere of the album even moodier, and the hook on this track is easily the catchiest thing I've heard from these guys so far. The atmosphere of "Ha, Ha, He" is definitely one of it's biggest strengths, take for example "The Unexpected", one of the slowest tracks on the entire album. Right off the bat though you can tell just how powerful this one is. It's tough to pull off a truly solid slow burner, but Mourn's lyrics and vocals here build up a lot of legitimate tension (Mostly due to the repeating of the chorus, this almost gives off a Savages vibe). The pounding drums are stellar, and the guitars are easily the more pronounced than I've heard on other Mourn material. "The Unexpected" is just really gigantic in sound, and I absolutely love it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36qJb1BvsIE
"Howard" early on in the album shows Mourn at their most aggressive, as they produce a short, upbeat track filled with attitude. Now, one slight issue I have here is that it is very short. It's not necessarily a huge problem, but so many of these tracks show up and leave before you can really take in everything. "Howard" though is solid, with one of the catchier, most aggressive chorus's. Later on in the album, "President Bullshit" has the same strengths and weaknesses. It's upbeat, the chorus is catchy, and is also just a little too short. The atmosphere on this album is so strong, if Mourn wrote some longer songs they could be truly memorable. "President Bullshit" is far from bad though, especially not with just how freakin' aggressive that last blast from Mourn is. However, if you look at a track like "Second Stage" later on in the album, it's on the slower, heavier side and it's much more memorable. The drum performance here is fantastic, and Mourn end up creating some legitimate tension, mostly due to the repeated chorus, Not to mention, those guitars around 40 seconds in are absolutely to die for. "Second Stage" has a much more Post Punk sound, and honestly I feel like this is the sound they should stick with. "Gertrudis, Get Through This!" is also drenched in Post Punk goodness, The chorus is simple yet effective, and that great moody sound of Mourn really ties everything together. Honestly, this is the sound that Mourn should stick with, and it's fantastic to see them coming into their own.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhjosgwPigA
"Storyteller" is the first track here that I honestly didn't care for at all. While some of the slower tracks here actually come off quite well, this one really doesn't. The instrumentals here sound like they're constantly clashing into one another, and the vocals just so unorganized. It's not the worst thing I've heard from Mourn, but this literally sounds like a demo for their self titled album. The chorus is hard hitting and all, but besides that it's just a gigantic step back. And as far as the ending of the album goes, the last three tracks are on the underwhelming side. We have "I Am A Chicken", which while it's somber and in parts beautiful, is overall boring. The vocals are sweet, but man the instrumental here is messy. It literally sounds unrehearsed, in the worst way, and everything just ends up clashing. Then we have "Irrational Friend", which is easily the most aggressive track here, and as far as the sound goes it's really solid. My main issue here is that I want more of it, literally this is the shortest track on the album, and it has such a fantastic sound. However, I commend Mourn for going for this much louder track, they actually pulled it off very well. As far as the finale goes, "Fry Me" is a slower jam, and honestly that's to be expected. However, I'm just not really feeling this one at all. Earlier slower tracks turned out to be real slow burners, "Fry Me" is pretty boring. The vocals are filled with emotion though, and are totally hypnotizing, but outside of that I feel like not much is really going on here. Still, a solid album.
Rating:7.9/10
Give A Listen To: "Gertrudis, Get Through This", "The Unexpected", "Second Stage", "Evil Dead"
Overall Thoughts: Mourn remain just as mysterious and as moody as on their debut album, but that's exactly what brought me back to them. Here, they take the foundations of their sound they created on their self titled debut, and make it so much bigger, darker, and add in a little more Post Punk. This is a solid release from Mourn, but if they really concentrated on that Post Punk sound and wrote a little bit longer, more expansive material, they could really blow me away.
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