By: Charlie Butler
Album Type: Splits
Date Released: 10/05/2017 |10/04/2017
Labels: Feast of Tentacles |
Halo
of Flies
“Disrotted/Molch Split 7”//DD track listing:
1). Disrotted – “Deliquium”
2). Moloch – “Fleshwound”
“Cloud Rat/Moloch Split 12”//DD track listing:
1).
Clout Rat – “Sueno”
2).
Cloud Rat – “Perdiak”
3).
Cloud Rat – “Stench”
4).
Cloud Rat – “Baby Sling
(Balloon Born)”
5).
Cloud Rat – “Biting the
Air”
6).
Cloud Rat – “Pit”
7).
Cloud Rat – “Amber Flush”
8).
Moloch – “The Ninth
Wave/Bloody North”
9).
Moloch – “Lead”
The Review:
2017
looks set to be an amazing year for Moloch. The Nottingham
sludge dealers will be spreading their crushing misery across the US in support
of Thou in the summer and are about to unleash
a cavalcade of new releases. The first two waves in this attack are a couple of
mighty splits; an LP with Michigan grind/punk whirlwind Cloud Rat
and a 7” with funereal Chicago doomers Disrotted.
I’ve
been hungry for more Moloch since their great
2016 split LP with Lich. The new material
on offer across these two new records more than lives up to my expectations and
sees the band take their sickening racket to new levels of extremity.
“The
Ninth Wave / Bloody North” opens the Moloch side of the Cloud Rat split with twelve
minutes of unrelenting terror. It begins with lumbering stop/start riffs and
harrowing howls that establish a mood of all-encompassing dread from the very
first second. The track degenerates further into a bottomless pit of despair,
like a mix of Eyehategod and early Swans
filtered through a grimy noise rock lens. Just when you think this treacly
crawl could not get any more unpleasant, the track drops down to a lone dirty
bass and screeching feedback which acts a backdrop for a harrowing sample of indecipherable
barked threats and desperate tears. It’s unlikely you will hear a more
distressing and powerful track this year.
“Lead”
offers some relative respite from this onslaught but still consists of repetitive
bludgeoning riffs. It sees Moloch expanding their
sonic horizons to take in some unhinged lead guitar squalls and more expansive
sounds that bring a hint of black metal to the pounding finale.
The
band’s contribution to the split 7” with Disrotted is the most
direct of these new tracks. Relatively perky by Moloch’s
standards, it’s a hard-riffing no-nonsense sludge assault but still mired in a
swamp of feedback and filth.
Moloch’s offerings on these splits see them
raise their already impressive game, making them the ones to beat when it comes
to ugly, messy, noise-riddled doom. My ears and soul should have recovered from
the carnage inflicted by these new songs just in time to enjoy their imminent
new LP.
The
best part of split releases is getting introduced to killer new bands and Moloch have teamed up with first class partners here. Disrotted contribute
seven minutes of slow motion punishment to their split 7”. The band’s brand of Burning Witch-style torment is a good foil for Moloch’s more aggressive approach, unleashing
molasses-thick waves of doom that wash over the listener to create a dense, hypnotic
wall of sound. Once you’ve entered the dark cloud of Disrotted’s
aural domain, it’s hard to pull yourself free.
Cloud Rat’s ever-shifting blend of high octane
grind, crust and hardcore punk is completely captivating and a brilliant
contrast to Moloch’s drudgery. “Sueno” kicks things off
with a pummelling intro riff that blurs into chaotic screamo mayhem while “Baby
Sling / Balloon Born” introduces some spidery, discordant guitar lines
that shift into furious d-beat sections that recall the fury of the much-missed
Hammers. Every track here is loaded with twists and turns
that strike the right balance between complexity and no-nonsense rock fury that
results in an addictive blast of cathartic fury. The hints of keyboards
throughout these tracks culminate in the glorious curveball of closing track “Amber
Fury”. A brooding piece of post-punk synthcore it sounds like Cold Cave being played through a broken radio. The fuzzy
lo-fi production only adds to its haunting quality. Somehow this complete
change of sound sits perfectly beside the chaos that precedes it and within the
split LP as a whole. It demonstrates that Cloud Rat are an
amazing band who could turn their hand to pretty much any genre and produce
gold.
Overall,
these two splits are both essential purchases that showcase three incredible
underground bands. Buy now.
Band info: Moloch Facebook
|| Disrotted Facebook
|| Clout Rat Facebook
