### The 11th Hour: Lacrima mortis

#### 27/02/12 || gk

Ed Warby returns with The 11th Hour’s second album and follow up to the impressive “Burden of Grief” from 2009. This time around he has Pim Blankenstein from Officium Triste replacing Rogga Johansson on growled vocal and Frank Harthoorn of Gorefest on guitars.

“Lacrima Mortis” is, in every way, a progression from “Burden of Grief” and its superior. The first three minutes of album opener“We All Die Alone” sets the tone for the rest of the album. An absolutely gigantic doom riff, a melancholic atmosphere, a memorable vocal melody and a short but well placed guitar solo all make their presence felt and “Lacrima Mortis” gets off to a pretty spectacular start. There’s also a riff just after the quiet interlude in the middle of the song that rivals the one on “Origins of Mourning” from the debut for sheer fist pumping exhilaration.

“Rain on Me” uses a crushing main riff and Warby’s mournful vocals to create a sound that is melancholic and mournful but also very powerful. Mid album epic “Tears of the Bereaved” is a great song with some impressive growls from Blankenstein. There’s a slightly distracting sample of a woman crying here but its followed by a perfectly placed guitar part that feels almost 70s hard rock in its inspiration and a slowed down, traditional death doom riff that just accentuates the heaviness of the song before going back to being melodic and fucking epic. The crying woman returns but somehow works a lot better in her second appearance probably thanks to being backed by a mournful guitar riff and followed by another superb solo.

“Nothing but Pain” is ominous in its riffing like a monster threatening to escape and tear you from limb to limb and the growls work very well in heightening the atmosphere before the song shifts gears to more melodic and softer territory. The album ends with the superb Bury Me and it has a ridiculously catchy vocal line that I’ve been humming ever since I first heard this. Just a fantastic song and a perfect way to end this album.

Warby’s songwriting ability just gets better and better and comparisons to seminal bands of the genre are too simplistic to capture everything that’s happening here. If “Burden of Grief” was a dense and at times impenetrable slab of doom metal then “Lacrima Mortis” is unafraid to let a little light shine through. The melodies are better, the riffs are inventive (and thats a bloody hard thing to pull off in doom metal of this nature), the growls are powerful, the solos work perfectly and Warby’s ability to come up with great vocal melodies really add to the quality of songs.

I might be getting greedy but looking at the progression and growth between “Burden of Grief” and “Lacrima Mortis,”album number three could well be a masterpiece. Till then though, this is the first great doom metal album of 2012. Absolutely essential for fans of the genre but with something in it to appeal to just about anyone who listens to metal.

- Information
- Released: 2012
- Label: Napalm Records
- Website: The 11th Hour MySpace
- Band
- Ed Warby: vocals, guitars, bass, drums, keyboards
- Frank Harthoorn: guitars
- Pim Blankenstein: vocals

- Tracklist
- 01. We All Die Alone
- 02. Rain on Me
- 03. The Death of Life
- 04. Tears of the Bereaved
- 05. Reunion Illusion
- 06. Nothing but Pain
- 07. Bury Me