MotherSloth - Moon Omen (2017)
Having last heard from MotherSloth with
their first full album, Moribund Star, back in 2014, I was thrilled
to get word that a second album had been assembled, and that the band
had joined Argonauta Records for its release. And with a helping of
six full-sized songs, MotherSloth are showing off how they've grown
in the years since their last release, with a tight sound to their
playing that doesn't compromise the expansiveness of their
doom-soaked sojourns.
The bass is nice and thick, but with
appreciable texture to its waves, while the guitar fills in dozens of
tense curls and turns. As the drums lay down firm beats, the vocals
find a space somewhere between the clean melodies of the '70s and the
rougher standards of today, wrapping the human presence up in a cloak
of ominous down-tuning. On the down-side, they're sounding less
cosmic than they were on Moribund Star, with the touches of spacy
psychedelia to the tone-weaving being practically absent this
go-round (though “Doomsday Cyborg” gives it a bit of
incorporation into the more grounded form). Things are more definite
now, without room for ambiguity, and while I'm sad to hear the
previous style abandoned, I can't say that MotherSloth do a bad job
with their new direction.
Most of the experimentalism in Moon
Omen lurks in the details of the production, with back-mixed
spoken-word touches, channel-sliding, and other subtleties adding a
surprising depth of material for careful listeners. The cymbal
treatment works especially well with the band's sound (check out
“Wish for Dawn” below for a great example), and all in all, it
sounds like the band is nice and comfortable with their musical
development.
~ Gabriel
For Fans Of; Abstracter, Disenchanter,
Moon Curse, Pallbearer, Tempus Terra
~
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