ASPHYXIUM ZINE

Monday, May 17, 2021

Full Length Review: Alberion/Zeresh "No Longer Mourn For Me" (Toten Schwan Records) by Dave Wolff

Band: Alberion
Country: Italy
Band: Zeresh
Country: Israel
Format: Digital album, limited edition CD
Release date: May 4, 2021
It would be unfair to describe this split by Zeresh and Alberion simply as dark and apocalyptic. As much as those descriptions are fitting, they would call attention to the celebration of the purest romantic love, free of guilt from a world that doesn’t understand the nature of what they’re sharing. The music these psychedelic neofolk projects compose have gloomy themes which suggest the emptiness of hundreds of years past, like a decaying sixteenth century mansion in some isolated location the rest of the world forgot long ago, but the spirits of the lovers who dwelled there are still present. As heaven left them with no one but each other for company, this gave them a mutual bond that couldn’t be broken by many eternities. With multiple layers of dual vocals, profound lyrics, spoken word passages, acoustic guitars, keyboards and atmosphere, “No Longer Mourn For Me” is described as being “spacious and claustrophobic at the same time”, which consummately describes the vibes between these two projects. As you listen you feel immense emptiness and spiritual lifelessness surrounding the two “characters” the artists personify, but their devotion is enough to fill the world. “No Longer Mourn For Me” takes the gothic death metal explored by My Dying Bride on “Turn Loose The Swans” and greatly revamps and improves upon its plaintive longing. These artists write an album with a feel of classic sixteenth century literature, inviting you to visualize Renaissance era settings, settings of perished and decaying homes, fields of dead flowers choked by weeds and ivy, an abandoned Renaissance town at sunset. Yet somewhere something is not quite completely unremembered, in hiding but very much alive. Or is it? Maybe the impressions I picked up are little more than distant memories, as Tamar says her lyrics are written about the end of intimacy and the inability to accept parting. This fits the pictures of decay more closely and turns the tale of condemned lovers to a tragedy. However it speaks to you, “No Longer Mourn For Me” is so much like a piece of classic fiction you’ll feel deeply immersed in it. –Dave Wolff

Lineup:
[Albireon]
Davide Borghi: Vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, samples
Carlo Baja Guarienti: Keyboards
Stefano Romagnoli: Loops, samples
Tamar Singer: Guest Vocals on “Heartbroken Romance” and “The Day You Powered Your Wasted Dreams In My Heart”

[Zeresh]
Tamar Singer: All vocals and instruments

Track list:
1. Albireon - Heartbroken Remembrance
2. Albireon - A Withered Kingdom
3. Albireon - The Day You Poured Your Wasted Dreams In My Heart
4. Albireon - My Lazy Triumph
5. Zeresh featuring Davide Borghi - Air From Afar
6. Zeresh featuring Davidavi Dolev - The Vague
7. Zeresh featuring Davidavi Dolev - Halls Grew Darker
8. Zeresh featuring Pablo C. Ursusson - No Longer Mourn For Me when I'm Dead
9. Zeresh featuring Michael Zolotov - The Aftermath (If I Shall Meet Thee)

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