Sole Majestic Downfall dude Jacobo Cordova probably spins the same albums DR does when he’s feeling solemn (or in a good mood – take your pick): Katatonia’s Dance of December Souls, Paradise Lost’s Gothic, and the various EPs My Dying Bride released leading up to As the Flower Withers. Even with those albums in tow, the Scandinavian feel of the man’s compositions is the real capper; Majestic Downfall is essentially the embodiment of dark, melodic Swedish death metal…but from Mexico. As such, the band’s appropriately-titled third album Three is another winner.
Like last year’s startling The Blood Dance, Majestic Downfall allow for toned, yet somber riffs to do the bulk of the work. Cordova’s riffs are simplistic, but the manner in which he paces his notes and melodies is the real catch. Lead-off cut “Nails” is proof of this, where a harmonious, yet dark main riff sets the pace, then the dreary melodies do the rest. Obviously, this are labored and long songs; “White Dark” is nearly ten minutes and hauls in an unsavory jangle at the 3:41 mark; “Under Wings of Shadows” pings the Scandinavian metal, like a less Viking Amon Amarth, while both “Into Darkness I Come” and “Black Death Immaculate” tip the scales with mounds of brooding riffs and captivating tempo shifts.
On par with The Blood Dance (hence the rating), Three is the everyman’s melodic death/doom album. As wide as a brushstroke that tag is, Majestic Downfall have gradually crept into their own sphere, able to make us all remember the glorious early 90’s, but relish in the manner in which Cordova is keeping them alive. Three is for lack of a better term, majestic.