Review De MANNEN BROEDERS “Sober Maal”

Boy oh boy – this is heavy stuff. To dampen the enthusiasm of the riff power enthusiasts, the term “heavy” in this context does not refer to loud and raging heavy metal. “Sober Meal” is more of an emotional heavyweight that leaves a lot of feelings on the listener’s shoulders.

De Mannen Broeders, the name of a collaboration between Colin van Eeckhout (CHVE, Amenra) and Tonnie ‘Broeder’ Dieleman, release an album with nine songs, each of which is a masterpiece of melancholy and sadness.

The nine-minute opener “Alle roem is uitgesloten” reflects the emotional impact of the album. With the church organ in focus and choral vocals towards the end, it shows a different approach than most of the albums mentioned on this blog.

What follows is a one minute spoken word interlude, a poem-like piece that adds a lot to the sadness spread by the songs on this album. There are two other poems on the album, which, for all its darkness, also contains a glimmer of hope.

Dieleman started making music when his mother died, which explains the overall mood of this release, and van Eeckhout also had to deal with loss when he lost his father. In addition to these personal tragedies, it is the place where the album was recorded that has an impact on the atmosphere of “Sober Maal”.

The album was recorded in five days at the Doopsgesinde Kerk in Middelburg. The artwork of the album shows the church when refugees from the First World War were sleeping in the church. The photo perfectly reflects the mood of this album, as everything on this album will wrap your soul in a heavy and gray blanket of melancholy. Nothing on this album is light-hearted, it is not the joy of life that touches you. Instead, you can expect a work that deals with death, loss and at the same time celebrates collectivity and humanity.

“Sober Maal” is the debut album of a project that brings together musicians with different musical backgrounds who have found a common emotional platform to create an album that is different, confronting and dark. It is the atmosphere of sadness that accompanies you for 45 minutes, and it may be the aim to approach something more colorful after these moments of grief and mourning.