Of Mother of Graves' "In Somber Dreams" and Musical Lineage (Early EP Stream)

January 4, 2021

Sometimes I think the Peaceville 3 movement gets too much credit. I know, I know, “What the fuck is wrong with you, Jon? The Peaceville movement was pivotal and gave way to an entire celebrated genre of music.” And you’d be right to correct me for saying this, but hear me out. Death/doom metal (or doom/death metal, if you are so inclined) had existed since the mid-to-late 1980s, and it had evolved in a tentacular fashion, leading to bands like Mythic in the United States, Lord of Putrefaction in England, and, for the purposes of this album premiere writeup, Katatonia in Sweden. Much like black metal’s own scene-based evolution, death/doom metal was a global phenomenon, it was just the Peaceville 3 who got the most notoriety, especially since Katatonia had initially identified as a black metal band. And still, Katatonia’s own, simultaneous fusion of gothic rock and post-punk inflections on a melodic doom metal setting left an indelible mark on death/doom metal’s lineage, one which is still felt today through bands like Mother of Graves.

Now, I’ve broken one of my cardinal rules: talking about other bands in a feature about a specific band. I generally find it lazy to discuss similarities on a band-to-band basis, but this Indianapolis melodic death/doom metal band’s approach is all about context. Katatonia’s lineage is felt here, but Mother of Graves doesn’t practice the art of abject mirroring. Distinctly heavier and with an ear for keyboard-laden atmospherics, Mother of Graves is part of a new generation of death/doom metal from the underrated child of the early/mid 1990s gothic trend, one whose parentage is obvious in theory, but without losing identity along the way (though vocalist Brandon Howe is a dead ringer for Brave Murder Day-era Mikael Åkerfeldt). Have an exclusive listen to Mother of Graves’ debut EP In Somber Dreams below.

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