Moss
Tombs Of The Blind Drugged
5
Down tempo sludgy drone is a genre obviously not meant for everyone. It's a fairly unforgiving branch of metal with a relatively small circle of followers, so discographies are often short, and bands frequently split in hopes of finding more complex and lucrative waters. The most memorable acts are those that discover interesting ways to rouse the formula just enough to cultivate curiosity while still maintaining the style's tortuously glacial pace: lesser known projects such as Gentry Densley's latest endeavor, Eagle Twin, Spain's Orthodox and Oakland's Laudanum immediately spring to mind, along with a host of the more "big-top" acts such as YOB, Corrupted, Grief and Noothgrush -- all tar slathered examples sporting different ways of sweetening the pot.
Southampton's inlet to this particular realm, Moss, has been churning out sludge drone for nearly a decade now, and they're extensive discography definitely proves they're here on a mission focused on sluggishly slogging: five demo's, five splits, two full-lengths, and this, their fourth (ahem) "EP." Unfortunately, the most interesting thing about this very extended player is the artwork that adorns that gruesomely beauteous cover. Underneath those quivering, robed skeletons, however, lies 40-minutes of remarkably nondescript slothlike sludge accompanied by gravel-rasped vocals we've all heard a hundred times before. At no point during my repeated listens did I ever feel I understood the feeling Moss hoped to deliver with their take on the style. No dread crept up the ol' spine. No dementia lurked in the corners of my mind. No walloping hammer fell upon my dome from the sky. Just three long yarns and a miss-fired Discharge cover apparently meant to accompany a slowly fading snail trail on its seemingly directionless journey to nowhere.
Perhaps my story would have a happier ending if this were my first foray into the genre, but as it stands, I'd call Tombs of the Blind Drugged a bland experiment in a lab overflowing with better and more potent choices ready to challenge those with a penchant for the plod.
Pass on by.
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