MENTAL HOME

Death-Doom Metal / Gothic Metal / Doom Metal • Russia
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Let's get back to the rainy days of November 1993. In those days the first band's line up included : Sergey Dmitriev (Vocal/Guitar), his brother Igor Dmitriev (Drums/Keys), Roman Povarov (Lead Guitar) and Denis Samusev (Bass). The band successfully escaped the famous "neverending line up change" illness.

Already in January '94 the band recorded their first Demo "FUNERAL SERVICE" (approx. 43 min.) in the "VNUKOVO STUDIO". That Demo followed the line of ATMOSPHERIC DOOM/DEATH.

6 months later in July'94 MENTAL HOME attacked VNUKOVO STUDIO once again and there the second masterpiece "MIRRORLAND" was born. The new release was nothing to do with the previous one. Music stepped to a new level (thanx to a lot of keys).

After that demo band started to get proposals from various record labels and soon made a deal with "METAL AGEN REC"/"SOYUZ" for release of MC. The contract was much forced by the band's
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Thanks to Vehemency, Modrigue, theheavymetalcat for the updates

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MENTAL HOME Discography

MENTAL HOME albums / top albums

MENTAL HOME Funeral Service album cover 0.00 | 0 ratings
Funeral Service
Death-Doom Metal 1993
MENTAL HOME Vale album cover 4.00 | 1 ratings
Vale
Death-Doom Metal 1998
MENTAL HOME Black Art album cover 4.00 | 1 ratings
Black Art
Death-Doom Metal 1998
MENTAL HOME Upon the Shores of Inner Seas album cover 2.00 | 1 ratings
Upon the Shores of Inner Seas
Gothic Metal 2000

MENTAL HOME EPs & splits

MENTAL HOME Mirrorland album cover 0.00 | 0 ratings
Mirrorland
Doom Metal 1995

MENTAL HOME live albums

MENTAL HOME demos, promos, fans club and other releases (no bootlegs)

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MENTAL HOME movies (DVD, Blu-Ray or VHS)

MENTAL HOME Reviews

MENTAL HOME Vale

Album · 1998 · Death-Doom Metal
Cover art Buy this album from MMA partners
Charcaroth
Mental Home was one of the bands I'd always liked from the moment I heard them, and was hoping they'd go far. Each album is a little different, but each one maintains a backbone of ornate, emotional and epic doom metal, bearing a general similarity to "Clouds/Wildhoney" era Tiamat, and perhaps "For Funerals to Come" era Katatonia, but less bleak. (I haven't yet managed to hear the debut album.)

"Vale", is Mental Home's 'doomiest' album, incorporating a slightly 'blackened' feel, and a more active musical approach than most typical doom, ranging from a somewhat slow to midpaced tempo, with a few slightly faster moments.

The overall vibe is of doom however, and "Vale" is awash in a rich, somber yet beautiful atmosphere augmented by keyboardist Roman Poravov, and anchored by the showcase of Mental Home's sound, which is the beautiful, epic and emotional melodies and riffing of guitarist/vocalist Sergey D'mitriev. Mental Home was always good for some incredible riffing.

Though, Mental Home is not a perfect band, and there are a few issues. While atmospheric, in a raw (but not black metal-raw) sort of way, the production could be better. It has a dank, mystical tone, which works and augments the music, but it sounds as if this was simultaneously being used to mask the "low rent" nature of the recording. The sound could stand to be a bit more vivid. Sometimes the guitar melody leads are a bit muddied, and relegated to the background, and the drums are ever so slightly high in the mix for this kind of music. But in all, the overall sound hangs together reasonably well, considering, and doesn't actively detract from the music.

Performance wise, the band is often solid, but occasionally the rhythm section becomes a little loose in a few of the difficult passages, though not embarrassingly so. It doesn't seem to distract too badly from the main focus of the album, which is it's atmosphere and melody.

The songrwiting mainly does capitalize on the awesome, emotional riffing which is Mental Home's trademark, but sometimes there are moments on the album where things become a little too divergent from this strength, and the music often suffers for it. A few riffs here and there are simply uninteresting, and/or don't really fit the overall sound, feeling like unnecessary digressions.

Ultimately, "Vale" has the feel of one of those albums that, while imperfect, manages to thrive on it's strengths and surpass the sum of it's parts.

(I hope this review is okay, it was rushed.)

MENTAL HOME Movies Reviews

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MENTAL HOME Shouts

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Vehemency wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Since noone else chimed in, I took the freedom to move them to doom metal, also added country, homepage and edited the EP "Mirrorland".
Charcaroth wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Oops, meant to say Tiamat, not Katatonia. Clouds/Wildhoney era, specifically. Trying to get out of reviewing these albums. Not enough time. Think ornate doom with some blackened/prog influences, depending on the album.
Vehemency wrote:
more than 2 years ago
And what says the death metal team? :-)
Charcaroth wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Mental home are doom metal, later with some prog elements. They're influenced by early Katatonia, but more diverse and less bleak.

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