Moss: Sub Templum

Since forming in 2000, Southhampton, UK trio Moss has become known for their penchant for writing music darker and less friendly than a medieval torture chamber. Inspired by the likes of H.P. Lovecraft and Aleister Cowley, Moss released an impressive array of demos and split albums with groups like Nadja and Unearthly Trance before unleashing their first full-length, Cthonic Rites (Aurora Borealis) in 2005. Sub Templum (Rise Above), their second album, is a four-song, hour and fifteen minute venture that is so monstrously heavy, it could quite possibly make healthy plants turn brown, shrivel up and die upon exposure. One again joined by Cthonic Rites producer, Jus Oborn of acclaimed UK doom act, Electric Wizard, Sub Templum makes for a supreme example of extreme metal’s slowest gaits, crawling along at less than a dead snail’s pace. “Ritus,” a short instrumental opening track is comparatively light, warming up the eardrums before being slugged with the abrasion of “Subterraen,” and “Drag to the Roots.” Rounding out the album is “Gate III: Devils from the Outer Dark,” which is made of three equally dismal movements clocking in at over 35 minutes. Listeners expecting their music to have a pulse would be better off leaving Sub Templum alone, but those who enjoy gut wrenching howls and intensely droning guitars (this band has no bass guitar) will delight in it’s depths.

– Jamie Ludwig

 Rise Above Records: www.riseaboverecords.com