Golgotha
Mors Diligentis

On their website I read that Golgotha is a legendary Spanish doom metal band, I guess imaginary was the definition of legendary referred to in that statement as none of the others really fit. This is the fifth album by this band that started out in the nineties, they have done a few EPs as well during that time. Mors Diligentis, Diligent Death, death can certainly be diligent, but I don’t really see what that has to do with this album as it doesn’t convey anything like that. I also notice that the artist probably isn’t diligent as the artwork looks like a shoddy afterthought done just ahead of deadline. So, nothing about this album visually or contextually is appealing, but what about the music?

Doom metal with dual female vocalist where one is growling and the other one sings clean, none of them can be described as anything but mediocre or worse. Musically it is flat and doesn’t feel particularly varied over the eight tracks that just blend together and usually I have no idea what track I am listening to as the feeling is the same through the whole album. One would imagine that an album with clean female vocals and growls would be rather dynamic as those are quite opposing styles, but it isn’t. It sounds flat and the only thing I really notice besides how bad the growling is, is some of the more melodic guitar lines that I think sounds really good. Then later on I notice that the album never ends, almost fifty minutes for an album without dynamics or variation is not a recipe for success.

The best thing I can say about this album is that it is mediocre rather than really bad, but personally I think bad or terrible is more fun than mediocre. The vocals is my biggest negative as they combine harmless, soulless, bad growls with clean vocals lacking personality and passion – but I don’t think you can put it all on the singers as the songs themselves are so without passion and soul that it is hard for a singer to add that, it is like trying to give a corpse a personality – it doesn’t happen. I mostly find myself having the sound of this album in my headphones, but my hearing is zoned out and my thoughts are elsewhere not thinking about Golgotha and their Mors album.

Another really difficult album to write about, so many albums are just existing rather than making impressions. It is so important with a sense of novelty in a new album, when there is nothing like that I don’t really listen, and then to try and write something profound about it is impossible. Hence all these shallow and bored reviews so far this year, the albums I have gotten lately does not impress and Mors Diligentis is certainly not an exception to that. Now, doom is probably my least favourite metal sub-genre, so fans of said genre might still want to give this one a try – but don’t count on hearing anything interesting.

 

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