Grabbed the promo of this Swedish post-sludge outfit’s third album on a whim; can’t say I’m too familiar with Moloken, as it’s been four years since their last record, which I haven’t even heard. But hey, I can always use some post-sludge in my diet… at least in moderate doses. That being said, they don’t tend to push the tempos too much here, with eight songs spanning some 29 minutes, including a couple interludes. This could almost be considered an EP.
“Subliminal Hymns” starts things off with some downtuned chugging beneath what sounds like a man breathing steadily and heavily into the mic. (I suppose that’s the subliminal part…) “All That’s Left to See” layers black-metal vocals over a fairly tame atmos-sludge backdrop, before a brief black-metal burst fittingly entitled “Burst.”
We do get a couple longer tracks in the back half, with seven-minute “Seventh Circle” sounding awfully reminiscent of Isis, albeit with some Scott Kelly screams, while the slightly shorter “I Dig Deeper” packs a bit more of a punch, leaning more toward noise rock a la Unsane.
Hey, I can think of worse ways to spend half an hour, but I also don’t feel the least bit compelled to listen to this again.
