Ensorcelor/Moloch - Split 12"

I'm closing out my week of doom with another Feast Of Tentacles release. Again featuring Moloch, alongside Canadian blackened sludge band Ensorcelor. This split is a very different beast to the Meth Drinker split I reviewed yesterday. Where that one was fast (in doom terms), this one if is more thoughtful. Containing three songs with one from Ensorcelor and two from Moloch, it's promises to take things down a more barren path.

Released in a limited batch of 600 black records, it was a cooperative effort by FoT, fellow UK label Psychic Assault and Dutch label Graanrepubliek. It's another pretty stunning record with a black and plain card cover that draws inspirational from the occult, with an indented insert featuring the lyrics and web links

Tracklist:-

1. Ensorcelor - Flesh Dreams of Uninhabited Space
2. Moloch - Nihilist
3. Moloch - Protagonist

This is my first introduction to Ensorcelor. I’m expecting something nightmarish. The intro to Flesh Dreams In Uninhabited Space starts promisingly with a choral passage that makes the hairs on your neck stand up, it’s that chillingly beautiful. That beautiful atmosphere is shattered two-minutes in though, by sloth-like instrumentation. It’s torturously slow, with bleak, rasping black metal vocals matching the tempo.

At times those rasping screams are joined by low-pitched vocals that rumble as much as the bass does. There’s a sinister but underlying sense of melody too, added by subtle ambience and the occasional metallic lead. The song is over twenty minutes long, so there’s plenty of opportunity for you to pick those subtleties out. The siren calls mid-way through add to the sense that you’re being dragged under, such is their powerfulness. The calming clean guitar section feels perfect set against the doom background and breathes some life into the song, which has otherwise been drowned by ungodly emotion and feedback. It’s testament to Ensorcelor’s song-writing that they can bridge the transition between the two textures and it works so well. I find myself staring out at the slowly blackening skies, which are awash with fiery red, wondering if I have actually passed through into the underworld.

It’s then Moloch’s turn to carry on widening their void of misery. Very much picking up where they left off on the Meth Drinker split, they begin with Nihilist. Punctuated by screeching feedback, the verses lurch forth with bass-heavy tone. This song seems to pick up pace as it builds. Possessing the groove that will get you’re head-banging. There’s nothing cliched or contrite about the doom that’s laid down here and it conjures visions that shouldn’t be witnessed by any living being.

There’s a short gap before Protagonist draws you in with lowly guitar. When the thicker riffs and vocals kick in, the sound level immediately rises. Swathes of sound wash in and out of the speakers and subtle dissonance hits you. A lot of doom records can turn into endurance tests very quickly, but along with Ensorcelor’s contribution, there’s more than enough variation here. The difference between both bands actually make this an enthralling piece of art and a cleansing listening experience.

You can revel in abject misery of this split below:-





You can still pick copies up from Feast Of Tentacles here, though numbers may be limited - http://www.feastoftentacles.com/distro.html

You can also grab copies from here -

Psychic Assault - http://psychicassault.blogspot.co.uk/p/distro.html
Graanrepubliek - http://www.degraanrepubliek.com/releases

Ensorcelor Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ensorcelor
Moloch Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/molochsludge
Feast Of Tentacles Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/molochsludge
Psychic Assault Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/psychicassault
Graanrepubliek Records - https://www.facebook.com/Graanrepubliekrecords