October 28, 2003 - The Mourning After

Two weeks after my last release and two years since "Invitation To The Dance", 40 Below Summer released their third album "The Mourning After" on October 28, 2003. 40 Below Summer continue to play the same style of nu-metal and this album was their most successful commercially and spawned two singles. Let's check it out! 

The album kicks off with it's lead single "Self Medicate" and they jump right into a nice hard-hitting main riff with both Jordan Plingos and Joey D'Amato playing some different, cool guitars. Max Illidge sounds solid singing for the most part and he mixes in some nice high screams to keep things sounding fresh and solid. The chorus is pretty catchy and solid and I can see why this was the lead single. After another round Hector Graziani plays a cool new bass riff and everyone follows suite with a pretty banging new part that sounds really sweet! They close it out with a final chorus and this was a great opener I thought! Up next is the other single "Taxi Cab Confession" and it's got a slow and dreamy riff to start as Illidge raps/sings quickly overtop for an interesting riff. Drummer Carlos Aguilar adds some dark piano as well, then they slam into a nice heavy and very nu-metal riff. Illidge holds lots of long notes in another pretty catchy and pop-y chorus and it makes the heavier parts hit even harder. After the next round Illidge takes over and screams a great new verse, then they close it out with a final chorus for another pretty solid single. Track 3 is "Rain" and one guitarist and Graziani play a slow and quiet, but epic rhythm section and Illidge sings a nice soft verse to match the mood. The other guitarist comes in for a heavier chorus riff, but Illidge continues to sing in a smooth, more pop-y voice. I'm surprised this wasn't a single as well as it's all very accessible and well done. Once again, after the second round they shift to a much heavier new riff with Illidge screaming and sounding great, then once again tie things back to a final chorus to predictably jam things out, until the last 25 seconds when everything dies away and Aguilar finishes things off with a dark and gloomy piano riff. The next track is "Breathless" and it's got another slow but smooth and fairly epic main riff. Illidge sings a soft verse to match the mood, but somehow the chorus is even softer and borderline sappy! Illidge sings about needing a girl and everything is very simple and not all that heavy; very atypical for these guys! This could have been another single for sure, it's very made-for-radio, which makes it easily the worst song so far. It's still decent, but definitely lesser. Track 5 is "Better Life" and it's more typical as they dive right into a fast, Party heavy and hard-hitting main riff that sounds pretty cool. Illidge is rapping fast and mixing in some super heavy screams in a great verse and he sings a more pop-y but still solid chorus overtop some more solid and heavy guitars. It follows the template with a short new part with some great screaming, then a return to the chorus to jam things out. Up next is "Monday Song" and it's got an extremely slow and sappy guitar riff leading the way with Illidge holding some long soft notes to match another atypical 40 Below Summer main riff. This song is also abnormal because the chorus is actually heavier than the verse. Illidge's singing is still slow and lighter but there's a nice kick to the loud guitar riff. This is still another lesser song for sure though. Track 7 is "F.E." and it's got another heavy and pretty cool main riff and Illidge sounds fantastic screaming quickly overtop and mixing his high and low screams. They tame things down a little as they move into the chorus and Illidge sings a solid chorus and adds bits of screaming backing vocals. The tamer parts are just decent, but the louder, heavier parts sound great, including a slow breakdown at the end of the song. The next track is "Awakening" and it's driven by another lighter guitar riff as 40 Below Summer are definitely experimenting with more radio-friendly stuff on this album. Illidge sings a soft verse to match the mood and things sound alright but they definitely sound better in the chorus as we get some heavier guitars and bits of screaming by Illidge mixed in with the largely pop-y singing. There's a guitar solonmideay through, but it's super tame and unexciting and this is definitely another lesser song for sure. Track 9 is "Alienation" and it's got a lighter but interesting main guitar riff to lead the way while the other guitarist comes in and out with bits of heavier stuff. Illidge sings a nice fast verse overtop, then they shift into another tamer and radio-friendly chorus with Illidge singing high overtop some pretty simple guitars. Perhaps this lighter shift gained them some new fans, but they are alienating their long-standing ones with this kind of pop-y stuff. The last song on the album is "A Season In Hell" and it's listed at over 16 minutes long! They dive right into a more traditional riff that is chugging and heavy right from the get-go and Illidge sounds awesome holding some of his screams so long that it has a kind of wobble to it, I love it! They shift to a quiet verse with Graziani playing some cool bass and Illidge singing a catchy and cool verse, then the heavy opening turns out to be the chorus, and what a great chorus that is! After another really cool round they seamlessly roll into a similar new riff with Illidge screaming nicely at first, then things slowly devolve into singing with him holding lots of long notes. This continues to trail off until eventually the song ends at the 5:57 mark. After six minutes of silence we get a bonus song for the final 4:17 and they do a nice job of creepily fading in with some cool drums by Aguilar and some trippy guitars. Illidge eventually starts to sing a soft verse overtop and things move into a similarly quiet and trippy chorus. This song is interesting in that it's unique, but it ultimately doesn't offer up much.

That is the end of "The Mourning After" and I thought it was a good album but not a great one. There's definitely still parts where 40 Below Summer are at their nu-metal best, but there's too much radio-friendly stuff on this one for me and I think it's easily their worst album so far, nowhere close to their debut "Side Show Freaks". Where will 40 Below Summer go from here?