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Review: Moss - Tombs of the Blind Drugged
Moss
www.myspace.com/cthonicrites
Tombs of the Blind Drugged

Label: Rise Above Records
Year released: 2009
Duration: 45:42
Tracks: 4
Genre: Doom Metal

Rating:
4/5


Review online: July 11, 2009
Reviewed by: Lars Christiansen
Readers' Rating
How do you rate this release?

Rated 4.17/5 (83.33%) (6 Votes)
Review

People love to label, especially when it comes to music. Within the metal scene in particular people love to discuss and argue over sub-genres. At any one time, message boards and forums the world over are literally packed full of philodoxes at loggerheads with each other over genres. Now, out of all the sub-genres, the one that has been generally tickled least by the moist finger of commercialism (well, in my opinion anyway) has been Doom. In the world of extreme Doom the similarities between certain ‘styles' are so close, that often people's opinions come down to such things as the music's tempo to distinguish the droners from the funeral-esque.

This brings me on to Moss, a band most UK extreme Doom enthusiasts will have come across at one point or another. Some call them drone, others call them Funeral Doom, some even call them Doom/Death. Personally, I think they've pretty much covered all those bases throughout their career, with a (un)healthy dose of filthy sludge slopped in here and there. Whatever you want to call them, you'd have to be a complete moron to not call them extreme. Tomb of the Blind Drugged compiles two of their latest vinyl EPs onto CD, with a bonus Discharge cover tacked on to make a juicy 4 track package, packed full of crushing down-tuned extreme Doom.

Whilst the material here doesn't quite outshine either of their two full-length records, the guitars still crash together with that same awe inspiring boom (which is even more impressive when you consider their line up doesn't contain a bass guitarist). Chords shiver with feedback and over-saturated sludgy distortion throughout. Olly Pearson's vocals are akin to the sound a skinned man would make if he were thrown head first into the sea, which when backed up with Chris Chantler's solid drawn out drum work helps to compact their powerful aura further into your psyche along with their claustrophobic riffage.

The final track is the Discharge cover of "Maimed and Slaughtered", but it certainly doesn't sound like the Discharge version at all – Moss have certainly twisted it into their own devastatingly inimitable style. I much prefer this take on covers too, I don't care for a band doing the exact same thing as the band they're covering did originally. Whilst this isn't as essential to your average doomsters collection as say, "Chtonic Rites", it certainly serves as a great stop-gap release whilst everyone waits for their next full length. Dense and feverish, this is a great compilation of doom extremity.

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