Rise Above Records

I'd like to say "Now here's a band that needs no introduction..." but I think that's not true. I think it should be true, however, because Moss' form of painfully crushing drone/funeral doom is something to be marveled at and talked about and known about. Moss is a doom/drone band from the UK that creates some of the most nauseatingly heavy, dark, and disgusting music I've ever heard. Take the dark, droning  excellence of Sunn O))), the occult, Lovecraftian horror-inspired alternate-universe-inducing greatness of Electric Wizard, and the atmospheric characteristics of the furthest depths of Hell, plus a whole bunch of downers and visions of plagues and death, and you've, more or less, got Moss. 

 Tombs of the Blind Drugged is perhaps the most appropriate title for this EP (how this manages to be labeled an EP while clocking in at 40 minutes is a mystery to me) because it depicts the exact sort of imagery and atmosphere that should accompany this unforgiving musical experience. The cover art helps, too. Guitars are tuned down low enough to rupture your lungs, and each riff is played slow enough and with enough exaggeration and emphasis that each slow second of this album has a towering significance that must be absorbed in full to really feel the tremors of horror that resonate so loudly. Your head must be in this music to fully benefit from its effects.

It's almost useless to talk about the music, or the techniques and song structures with Moss. Riffs, if you can call them that, are of the drone variety, so they operate more under the orders to create a devastating atmosphere that pulls you from your comfortable place in this mundane plane of existence into a totally new and horrible realm where cosmic horror and unfathomable darkness and danger grip you and surround you and define your very place in the realm. By no means is this a trip everyone will want to take. 

 Each track is a self-contained phase of this larger experience, differing little in the ways of patterns, structure, or development. Standing alone or as a whole, the songs form a brutally dark and unwelcoming environment that could put you into a coma before it's all over. It should be noted that the vinyl version of this EP has only two tracks, so the horrifying adventure is sadly reduced by roughly 30%. The CD version not only has a third track that is every bit as world-ending as the first and second, but a bonus track which is Moss' cover of a Discharge song. Moss' version sees this punk tune reduced in speed to about 1% of its original tempo, rendering it utterly un-identifiable. If it weren't for the lyrics, not even the guys in Discharge would know that this is a cover of their song. 

Like plenty of albums of this genre, this is not something even the most die-hard fans will want to spin every day, or even extremely often. It's an unearthly experience best saved for the right mood and the right time, not a selection of music to be blasted in the car on long trips.

1. Skeletal Keys

2. Tombs of the Blind Drugged

3. Eternal Return

4. Maimed and Slaughtered (Discharge cover)

 8.4/10