Review by Sonny for Death the Leveller - II (2020)

Ireland's Mael Mórdha are not a band I have been particularly well acquainted with. The only album of their's I've listened to much being 2013's Damned When Dead which wasn't bad, but didn't really inspire me to check out the rest of their back catalogue. So when I saw that the instrumental core of the band were forming a new doom outfit after placing MM on hiatus, my reaction was pretty much "[shrug] so what?!" Well more fool me, because Death the Leveller are superb and exactly the type of doom band I dig most. They play the kind of epic doom metal that pays enormous homage to the classic heavy metal bands of days of yore that Solstice have made their own since New Dark Age twenty-odd years ago.

This is ostensibly their debut album as the self-titled release is officially an EP despite being 38 minutes long (only a couple of minutes shorter than this), but that is neither here nor there. In common with that first release, this comprises four tracks hovering somewhere around the 10-minute mark - a perfect length that allows the tracks to settle in and weave their magic whilst feeling neither over-long nor underdeveloped. The bands chief currency are huge, booming riffs that are expansive and doom-laden as if, like a musical Nostradamus, they presage the coming of some all-consuming disaster, either on a personal level or in a wider sense. Vocals are provided by Denis Dowling who's previous bands include little-known Irish tech-thrashers Cursed Earth. Denis' vocals are strong, yet still emotionally charged, performing a brilliant balancing act between the power of a Morris Ingram combined with Patrick Walker's ability to convey real emotional fragility (check out So They May Face The Rising Sun for an example of what I'm getting at). I find it difficult to believe that a singer this good has not become more well known in metal circles.

Shane Cahill's strong drumming carries the songs forward and maintains the momentum while Dave Murphy's bass backs up the guitar riffing to add extra depth and power to the overall sound. All in all this is a band that has obviously honed their songwriting and technical skills and have found it easy to gel from their time together in Mael Mordha. Couple this with the addition of such an accomplished vocalist as Dowling and you have one hell of a doom metal band. I'm impressed and believe me, I am one cynical, jaded bastard nowadays so that's saying something!