Majestic Downfall –  …When Dead (Pulverised Records)

Genre: Doom/Death Metal

Who would have thought that the hefty doom of Yorkshire miserablists like Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride would have seeped into the sunny ciudads of Mexico?

Jacobo Córdova, the man behind Majestic Downfall, certainly likes his music imbued with 90s European gloom, and indeed started this project in 2006 to recapture the spirit of the scene.

If fourth album…When Dead is anything to go by, Córdova’s mission has been a successful one – and he’s also brought a touch of black metal bombast to the funeral party too.

Now a fully operational band, Majestic Downfall have some fresh music to bring to their live shows, thanks to this opus. And there is some really quality here, particularly in the epic, 15-minute plus Escape My Thought, which sees Córdova weaving doom, death and black metal together into a vast soundscape lit only by a blood red moon.

However, …When Dead also has a tendency to plod and even the impressive blast beat driven passages that pepper tracks like The Brick, The Concrete, can’t quite pull them out of a rather tedious mire.

Bizarrely, it’s the speedier, more DM-orientated segments which actually hit home most effectively here: closer The Rain of the Dead is a prime example.

A mixed bag then, but not without its charms. Richard Holmes

RUSHONROCK RATED: 6.5/10 Up And Down