From the Depths of Hell
Here’s your Four Minute Warning folks: prepare to get your brains blown out by Swedish metal band Moloken.
Made up of brothers Kristoffer and Nicklas Backstrom on guitar/vocals and bass/vocals respectively, along with Jakob Burstedt on drums and Patrik Ylmefors on guitar, the band’s raw power is evident from the very first note. The pure darkness of this album is overwhelming, it makes you feel as if you are experiencing something sinister, it is indeed a wicked pleasure.
The listener only has three brief hiatus’ throughout this album and this is during tracks Untitled I, Untitled II and Untitled III where the band’s instrumental skills are laid bare. The power, the darkness, it’s all stripped away temporarily and a more vulnerable side of this powerhouse is exposed. However, don’t get too comfortable as the strength of the instrumentals seems to build out of nowhere and before you know it, you’re in the middle of a maelstrom of metal again.
Between Backstrom’s metal roaring and the overpowering instrumentals, it’s difficult to follow the lyrics; I can’t even say whether the songs are in English or Swedish. However, this does not in any way detract from the overall effect of the album. This isn’t one for persons of a sensitive nature, nor for those with delicate hearing. No, this is a monster album from a monster band for monster rockers and I’m proud to call myself a member of this category.
‘Our Astral Circle’ is Moloken’s debut album with a release date of 24th February 2010. Despite the band’s relatively short time together having only formed in 2007, the album shows a maturity akin with more established bands such as fellow Scandinavians Meshuggah. I love that it’s all about the music, there are no studio effects, no gimmicks, it’s totally organic.
Final track 11”12 is a mammoth 12 minutes and 24 seconds long. It starts off with a bare bones approach; although there’s not much going on you know that hell is just a heartbeat away. After building up, the song dies down again to practically nothing only halfway through the track. From here it completely changes direction and a seemingly new melody is introduced into the mix. Despite the roaring vocals, the song does have more of a serene feel than the other tracks on the album and finishes the CD on a strangely numb note.
Overall, this is definitely an album for metal-heads to check out. Scandinavia has produced a monster and once again proved my opinion of its rock prowess correct. It won’t be to everybody’s taste but if you like your music akin to that performed in the depths of hell, give Moloken a go.