Is it feasible to comfortably cross the genres of black metal and dark ambient? Moloch think so, as this offering attests. Slow-tempo trudges, the drums and vocals buried beneath guitars that blister and peel in walls of crackling treble fizz indicate the band’s appreciation of the low-budget production ethics espoused by the progenitors of black metal, with Burzum cited as one of the primary influences on Moloch. It’s perhaps worth noting that while imprisoned for murder and arson, Varg Vikernes aka Burzum recorded a brace of dark ambient album, meaning Moloch’s output here isn’t without precedent.
‘Die Isolation’ is dark, bleak and claustrophobic, the vocals a manic howl of anguish, the sound of a body being rent by demons, a soul being dragged between planes against its will, clawed, tortured and punished. The fact the song titles and (presumably) the lyrics are all in German is no obstacle to feeling the pain conveyed through the nine tracks here. Between the brutal agony and equally brutal top-end lie passages of glacial synth and torrid guitar-led instrumentals that provide the ‘dark ambient’ aspect of the album, and they are indeed dark, and serve to add to the heavy, end-of-days atmosphere that pervades.
|
It would be a mistake to criticise the production: it may not add to the album’s listenability, but it does accentuate the raw brutality and frenzied torment that drives it. It also highlights the band’s awareness and appreciation of their lineage, and places ‘Die Isolation’ firmly alongside the albums that inspired them.
|
