Album Review: MMXX – Sacred Cargo (Candlelight Records)

Andrea Chiodetti (ex-The Foreshadowing) on guitars and keys, Jesse Haff on drums (Daylight Dies and Gökböri) and Egan O’Rourke on bass (Daylight Dies). Together they make the global doom metal supergroup MMXX. Who will release their new album’ Sacred Cargo’ via Candlelight Records on the 11th of November 2022.

Worldwide doom, MMXX are a supergroup but bring with them an immense number of guests from across the metal spectrum. Eight of the ten tracks featuring an array of talent combining with the already impressive musical abilities of the core band.

A core that lays the doom on thickly, the weight of the instruments coming down heavily on the mind. Alongside vocals that howl like a bitter winter wind. The opening track, This Breath Is Not My Breath is misery incarnate. Helped by an understated malevolence and enhanced by the talents of Swallow the Sun’s Mikko Kotamäki.

Speaking of misery though, Perdition Mirror has that innate feeling of hopelessness that only the best doom can deliver. The slithering darkness creeping up and slowly consuming. MMXX and Mick Moss making any refusal to give in, exhaustive and futile. Followed then by the melodic tones of The New Forgotten Ones, a track that has a lighter vocal performance from Klone’s Yann Ligner. Before MMXX take us into deeply melancholic territories with the emotive sound of Faint Flickering Light.

Take a breath, the doomy tomes just keep coming as Mick Moss makes his second appearance on the foreboding grandeur of The Tower. The scale and scope of this track is quite intense. Though even that pales to some degree with the vastness of Unavailing. Where the guitars deliver a measured rhythm that is surprisingly ‘foot-tappy’ and the vocals echo effectively in the recesses of the mind. The only track to feature two guests too, namely Marco Benevento of The Foreshadowing and Chris Cannella of Autumns End.

The booming sound of Der Nukleus rings out as the album reaches its twilight stage but MMXX are certainly not relenting on the doom grandeur as this, and the following title track show. The latter featuring the legendary Aaron Stainthorpe of My Dying Bride.

A short and melodic interlude called Espirare sets up the finale of Shadow Haven nicely. One last doom epic that might be the most melancholic track of the bunch. Aside from the powerful melody exuded by the instruments, the vocals feel particularly sensitive. This expressiveness, well prevalent throughout, is extremely touching here. It makes for an ending that feels exactly that, an ending.

It’s hard to make waves in doom these days, but MMXX will do just that with this album. Ignore the ‘supergroup’ tag, what we have here is a gigantic and exceptional doom album by a bunch of extremely talented people.

MMXX – Sacred Cargo Full Track Listing:

1. This Breath Is Not My Breath (Feat. Mikko Kotamäki – Swallow the Sun)
2. Perdition Mirror (Feat. Mick Moss – Antimatter, Sleeping Pulse)
3. The New Forgotten Ones (Feat. Yann Ligner – Klone)
4. Faint Flickering Light
5. The Tower (Feat. Mick Moss – Antimatter, Sleeping Pulse)
6. Unavailing (Feat. Marco Benevento – The Foreshadowing, Chris Cannella – Autumns End)
7. Der Nukleus (Feat. Carmelo Orlando – Novembre)
8. Sacred Cargo (Feat. Aaron Stainthorpe – My Dying Bride)
9. Espirare
10. Shadow Haven (Feat. Dan Swano – Edge of Sanity, Nightingale)

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