Rating: 7.9

Country: Belgium

Genre: Death/Doom Metal

Record Label: Solitude Productions

Release Date: 2009

Track list:
1. Broken Leaf (intro)
2. Shepherd Of Sorrow
3. Silent Nights
4. My Damnation Deep
5. The Soilseeker
6. Her Dark Smile
7. The Burden Of Doubt
8. Vilest Of Men

Total playing time 54:50

Band Website: My Lament

My Lament - Broken Leaf

Bert De Visscher - Vocals
Paul Broeren - Guitar
Jens De Petter - Guitar
Steven Sarlet - Bass
Vincent Jacobs - Drums

Having heard of this band before but dismissing them as overtly melodic and fruity Euro-doom (with a name like My Lament such conclusions are unavoidable), I was pleasantly surprised to find that my expectations of Eastern European gothic monotone were completely absent. In its stead, the Belgian group's debut full length is a dark and brooding death/doom album reminiscent of material from the burgeoning French scene. While the record has enough brute force to keep even me happy throughout its length, it still suffers at the hands of its creators – what is the obsession with nauseating melody? Why do these bands with so much potential feel the need to have ridiculous spoken word sections? Not only can you hear the silly accents but in several sections of Broken Leaf you can make out the lyrics, and believe me when I say that they are not good. Much like their French neighbours, My Lament fall into these cliché doom metal traps, and it severely hampers the album's effectiveness and longevity. But why these faults are so irritating is telling of the band's actual potential – it pains me to hear these flaws because in essence the band have done everything right, and it is said flaws which shave off points that My Lament need to distinguish themselves from the norm.

Though being a hot spot for all styles of metal, France has been churning out excellent doom for a number of years. Ataraxie's Slow Transcending Agony is arguably its pinnacle, but it is their derivative Inborn Suffering that is a better comparison. My Lament fit perfectly alongside the likes of Inborn Suffering or other European death/doom such as Saturnus, Black Wreath, Officium Triste and Mourning Beloveth. What it is distinctive about them however (at least in relation to bands like Saturnus and Black Wreath), is that My Lament retain a certain edge in their composition; slower, melancholic passages notwithstanding, Broken Leaf can at times be an immensely heavy album, replicating the Ataraxie/Inborn Suffering death metal aesthetic .

If anything, Broken Leaf is a step forward. What I disliked most about Inborn Suffering was the band's attempt to incorporate some terrible singing into the overall atmosphere of their music – this did nothing but raise the cringe factor, ruining what would have otherwise been good songs. To my great relief, there is no clean singing to be found on Broken Leaf. While not having shed the spoken word which also plagued Inborn Suffering, the lack of singing puts greater emphasis on Bert De Visscher's exemplary gutturals. But then there are the lyrics. Expect only the usual clichéd Euro-doom drivel – lines like ‘she is a terrified little girl' sound ridiculous no matter how they're put, so I just do my best to ignore them. The song itself ("Her Dark Smile") is in fact very good; much like the rest of the album, it's cohesive and certainly not dull, with a very genuine dark and depressing atmosphere. With that in mind, it's just disappointing to read the lyrics and see the song in a lesser light.

What drives Broken Leaf, as mentioned above, is its cohesion. The album flows from furious riffage to slower melodic moments with ease and fluidity, and in general the instrumentation of the Belgian group is outstanding. The drumming is very well done, something which is rare in doom; much like with Inborn Suffering, My Lament drummer Vincent Jacobs' performance is ear-catching and definitely impressive. The slick production adds notable levels of smoothness to the sound, and to put it bluntly the album as a whole sounds good. Anyone who has heard any European death/doom before will know exactly what to expect - My Lament do not go out of their way to provide anything different, merely offering a slight variant on a very common sound. In the context of originality, they receive no points. However, the record's aforementioned shortcomings aside, execution is Broken Leaf's strong point, and thus for any fan of death/doom there is value to be found here. It's derivative and at times cliché, but Broken Leaf sits to the right of average on the death/doom spectrum, and represents the continuation of this particular European style.

February 28, 2010