I guess with a combined running time of 75-minutes long-running Australian doomsters Mournful Congregation could have just about fitted their two part EP releases on one disc but what listener would have been able to endure it all in one sitting? It therefore makes quite a lot of sense delivering them a year apart. Listening to the two parts back to back I feel that this is the slightly lighter and less oppressive part as the solemnity of closing statement ‘An Epic Dream Of Desire’ on the first was really quite an emotional drainer that slowly and numbingly extinguished the will to live over its 15-minute run time. Here they may actually have exceeded the run time of that particular slab of granite hued misery with but there is more in the way of warmth here due to more in the way of sparkling acoustic guitar parts on epic number ‘The Paling Crest.’

Before we get to that though the band revisit ‘Heads Bowed’ from their demo released way back in 1995. The guitars have that sorrowful Anathema etched sound as they slowly unspool citing classic and atmospheric doom of the era although the bark weathered growl of vocalist and founding member Damon Good owe much to the funeral doom genre than anything else as does the pacing of the instrumentation which slows things down to a near painful crawl. Patience is definitely necessary as this slow and sorrowful approach and now I am actually wondering if my original notion regarding the releases is correct. Thankfully a mid-track break of acoustic interplay brings a waft of brief fresh air to things. There’s also plenty of this on display on shorter number and the first of the new tracks ‘The Forbidden Abysm.’ Not a plunge to the depths as title suggests but a ponderous and methodically approached construct with plenty of changes in motion, atmosphere and drama.

Seems like there is a difference of opinion as to the running order of things on the release but the 18-minute ‘The Paling Crest’ suits as the natural conclusion to the EP. Quite gorgeous in parts there’s almost a medieval texture to the acoustic guitar and indeed it sparkles and is not quickly dispensed with, allowed to flow and babble as clean vocals join in the background. Harmony here is rich, there’s a folk-like approach and a dreamy sense of calm. With so much space to breathe here it doesn’t seem as much as an ordeal as it caresses and tickles the senses, languidly drifting away. Naturally heaviness is partly reinstated as the vocals bellow away but the overall approach leaves one with an unexpected smile rather than a feeling of tortured pessimism. A very lengthy but high note to go out on.

(7/10 Pete Woods)

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https://osmoseproductions.bandcamp.com/album/the-exuviae-of-gods-part-ii