Sometimes, no matter how much you like a band, they just fall off your radar. Not because of you being uninterested. Sometimes it just happens. Moloch is such a band for me. After discovering them way back when I lost sight of what they were doing. Upon rediscovering them I tracked down what I could find of their discography only to lose sight of them again. Until they popped up in the promo bin with their new split.
Moloch are a sludge band from England, they are practically THE UK veterans of the scene. They have released two LP’s and a great number of split records. These split records are sometimes with bands with a similar sound, like the split with Thou or Haggatha and sometimes (or more often) with bands from other genres such as grindcore masters Cloud Rat or Lich. Through the years Moloch has been incredibly consistent sound wise. They found their groove and stuck with it. I would not want it any other way. So they deliver exactly what you’ve grown to expect from this band: slow, extremely dirty sludge. After twelve years it is a wonder that their singer is still able to produce any sound at all, but he delivers and sounds as dirty and rotten as ever. Their side of this split contains one song ("Thy Grief II") that starts slow and plodding. The acceleration is executed with deadly precision. Acceleration should be taken with a grain of salt though. It changes speed like a snail moving with no purpose until it suddenly sees some yummy lettuce in the near distance. It works like a charm! This is textbook Moloch and I love it.
On the B-side of this split we find Groak. Groak is relatively new (compared to Moloch at least). They’ve released an EP and two splits so far. The difference in experience level can be heard. Groak sounds like a slightly sped up copy of Moloch. Their song structure is not as solid as Molochs unfortunately. Next to that they have made the decision (the wrong decision, I might add) to ruin their production. I had to come back and check if my promo had some hick up while downloading. Throughout the song you hear something that sounds like your modem is trying to connect to the internet (90’s kids will know what I’m talking about). This makes listening to their song a chore. That’s a shame, because I do hear some promise. It just is not coming out yet. I am curious to hear how Groak is going to develop.
I am glad this split has led my attention back to Moloch, I have some catching up to do! This is not their best split, their work with Haggatha remains my favourite. Yet this is something to come back to every now and then.
