Onegodless - Mourner album review

The pop-and-hiss of a ringpull and indignantly spat “Ah, fuck it” intro of Onegodless’s debut tells you all you need to know about the following 40 minutes of low-slung, grooving ruckus that awaits. From the cover art of a skull ring-adorned fist to the Southern-fried blues and heavily Anselmo-inspired vocals, this is good ol’ boys’ metal through and through. It comes as a surprise, then, to discover that the band contains some of the Netherlands’ most respected prog musicians: bass player par excellence Robin Van Zielhorst, formerly of Cynic and Exivious, and ex-Textures vocalist Pieter Verpaalen, who by the sound of it were so sick of composing impossibly labyrinthine odes they went and did the complete opposite. The ceaselessly heaving riffs of the galloping Unstable or the punchy Salvation are as tight as you might expect given the calibre of the musicians, but somewhat samey after a while. There’s nothing original about any of Mourner, but it sure sounds fun after a few beers.