Moss were so fucking good in their prime. I have Sinister Histories vol 1 on here and it's something else. The slowest, fucking nastiest and most evil sounding noise that I've yet encountered. There are countless bands trying the ultra slow, wall of sound approach, but much of it lacks that sense of mystery and otherworldliness that Moss conjured up at their best. I know a lot of people hated them because they were so ridiculous and minimal, but to me that was the whole point. It sort of fed your imagination. The song titles and grotty artwork were an essential component in nudging you into a certain frame of mind. I travelled across South America in 2006 and spent many a night sitting on a bus, travelling through desert and listening to Cthonic Rites on my Creative Zen, drawing all sorts of nutty stuff in my notebook. Good memories.
I find myself pulled back to those old sounds lately and it feels like that time in the early 00s was a very exciting and fruitful time for unorthodox extreme doom. Things went sideways somewhere along the way and the bands all lost that sense of obscurity and weirdness. I suppose it became cool to play two notes for half an hour through a huge stack of amps, but the spirit of darkened crusty filth got traded in for bland bespectacled middle classery.
I'd like to see some properly fucking evil decaying filth re-emerge- bands who didn't just mention Lovecraft in interviews to seem hip, but actually seemed to truly invoke the beasts of his imagination through their music. Bands who sang about and musically reflected dripping torture chambers, gloomy candlelight and cold, dripping caves or the terror lurking in the hateful cosmos.
Until then I'll keep returning to Moss and a few others from that era who defied all good taste and created something important.
Serious filth, almost psychedelic when you crank it up and just give in to it.
It always made me laugh that Chantler wrote for childrens' TV, too.
Never really ventured passed Cthonic Rites but always loved that. What the craic with Sinister Histories?
Sinister Histories was released in two volumes so far by Fuck Yoga. Vinyl collections of their early material, songs from splits etc. Raw as utter fuck.
After Cthonic Rites all you really need are Eternal Return, Tombs of the Blind Drugged and Never Say Live. Carmilla/Marcilla is the best of the clean singing version of Moss but not essential.
Will do a bit of digging. Been years since I listened to them. They still going?
No, they fizzled out several years ago. They kind of went down an Electric Wizardy route which wasn't great. Olly's harsh vocals were brilliant, his clean singing not so good. A few decent bits here and there- Tombs of the Blind Drugged is some of their best material. A nice balance between their later riffy style and their old evil sound- but the post- Cthonic Rites stuff is a bit of a continuous decline.
I went to grab the Church of the Flagellation tape, a compilation released by Padre Pio from the old forum, and featuring Bunkur, Malasangre, The Sad Sun and Stabat Mater. There was supposed to be a follow up, or possibly even a series of follow ups and WOTH were going to contribute something if I remember correctly but nothing else ever came of it.
While rooting it out I grabbed a few other manky old doom tapes, Moss- Tape of Doom, Bosque/Senthil split and Funeralium- Ultra Sick Doom.
Going to try to trawl through these over the coming week.
Couldnt remember the Padre's name earlier. Moss - The Doom tape is one of the first things I got of him along with Until Death overtakes me and some other really hateful stuff.
You should do a top ten sick twisted metal I heard in the 00's list
But I'm so lazy :(
Tape of Doom on here now. It's so minimal and nasty sounding.
Quote from: Eoin McLove on January 17, 2021, 10:58:10 PM
Moss were so fucking good in their prime. I have Sinister Histories vol 1 on here and it's something else. The slowest, fucking nastiest and most evil sounding noise that I've yet encountered. There are countless bands trying the ultra slow, wall of sound approach, but much of it lacks that sense of mystery and otherworldliness that Moss conjured up at their best. I know a lot of people hated them because they were so ridiculous and minimal, but to me that was the whole point. It sort of fed your imagination. The song titles and grotty artwork were an essential component in nudging you into a certain frame of mind. I travelled across South America in 2006 and spent many a night sitting on a bus, travelling through desert and listening to Cthonic Rites on my Creative Zen, drawing all sorts of nutty stuff in my notebook. Good memories.
I find myself pulled back to those old sounds lately and it feels like that time in the early 00s was a very exciting and fruitful time for unorthodox extreme doom. Things went sideways somewhere along the way and the bands all lost that sense of obscurity and weirdness. I suppose it became cool to play two notes for half an hour through a huge stack of amps, but the spirit of darkened crusty filth got traded in for bland bespectacled middle classery.
I'd like to see some properly fucking evil decaying filth re-emerge- bands who didn't just mention Lovecraft in interviews to seem hip, but actually seemed to truly invoke the beasts of his imagination through their music. Bands who sang about and musically reflected dripping torture chambers, gloomy candlelight and cold, dripping caves or the terror lurking in the hateful cosmos.
Until then I'll keep returning to Moss and a few others from that era who defied all good taste and created something important.
I agree with you that there were some interesting bands around that time. I used to go to quite a few gigs in the doom scene back then. However I never tried out Moss.
Did you ever get into Unearthly Trance?
I loved Season of Séance, Science of Silence. Nothing else they did managed to capture the same magic to my ear.
The next one, In The Red, is great as well but we've def had that conversation many times. Must lash them on.
The Moss comp that the thread was inspired by is fuckin hard going. I estimate 6 chords over 3 songs. Utter mankiness.
Tape of Doom is even more minimal than those songs :laugh: You need to be in the mood, which I am at the moment, so happy days.
In the Red was alright but I haven't listened to it in a long time. I'll root it out for a spin. I think the song writing on Season... is incredible and the production is perfect too. It's warm and full but loose and alive sounding. In the Red was more noisy and the songs didn't have the same epic quality as the likes of Raised by Wolves. But that's just my memory of it.
Edit. SOS,SOS was a huge influence on The Sunken Threshold, by the way. A lot of the rhythms I was playing on the guitar were inspired by it. Parts of Eulogy for the Sewer Dwellers too, now that I think about it.
In the Red on now. Neurosis-y.
Quote from: Carnage on January 17, 2021, 11:15:38 PMIt always made me laugh that Chantler wrote for childrens' TV, too.
That's mad. Any idea what show/s?
For a long time he was also the only Terrorizer writer worth paying attention to as well.
The Danger Mouse revival is the only one I can think of off the top of my head.
Quote from: Carnage on January 25, 2021, 10:57:48 AM
The Danger Mouse revival is the only one I can think of off the top of my head.
Danger Mouse! :laugh:
Danger Moss?
Cthonic Rites just popped into my head so I grabbed the CD for the car to work in the morning. I seem to have summed up my thoughts on this album pretty comprehensively in my first post. I think there is another edition due out in Fuck Yoga's vinyl round up, so here's hoping it won't be too far off. I foresee an overdue Moss binge coming my way.
Jesus I've haven't listened to Moss in ages. They were savage back in the day.
Yeah, they were utterly ridiculous in many ways, but that was part of the joy of their style. I liked how relentless they were. Even the quiet, calm moments had evil shrieks and gurgles emanating out of their depths. It was pure horror.
Tonight it will be Cthonic Rites avec the work of Mr. Lovecraft.
Must be 10+ years since I spun Cthonic Rites, it never grabbed me the way Andy describes in the OP. Must give it another go this week.
I remember seeing the in London years ago. Manky day outside and my one pair or trainers had holes in the bottom. Arrived the venue feeling utterly miserable and Moss never sounded so good.
A tip for everyone. If interested I can post a video on how you can make your own shoe-holes.
Was that the ULU Rise Above show? I remember that day being particularly miserable, with it bucking down relentlessly. My only pair of shoes also weren't waterproof.
Quote from: Thanatos on April 20, 2023, 04:41:28 PMWas that the ULU Rise Above show? I remember that day being particularly miserable, with it bucking down relentlessly. My only pair of shoes also weren't waterproof.
Moss didn't play that one. That was Electric Wizard, Grand Magus, Litmus, Gentlemans Pistols.. And I also suffered from non-waterproof shoes that weekend.
Class wee jaunt over, though!
I never had the displeasure of seeing them live and I think I'm glad as their music is so otherworldly at its best that keeping it detached from humanity kind of works to its advantage. Perhaps I am in denial :)
Quote from: mishima on April 20, 2023, 08:22:14 PMQuote from: Thanatos on April 20, 2023, 04:41:28 PMWas that the ULU Rise Above show? I remember that day being particularly miserable, with it bucking down relentlessly. My only pair of shoes also weren't waterproof.
Moss didn't play that one. That was Electric Wizard, Grand Magus, Litmus, Gentlemans Pistols.. And I also suffered from non-waterproof shoes that weekend.
Class wee jaunt over, though!
Eh.... I believe they did. It's the December 13th 2008 show I'm talking about here.
Full lineup was: Serpentcult, Litmus, Moss, Diagonal, Taint, Gentlemans Pistols, Grand Magus, Electric Wizard.
Quote from: Thanatos on April 27, 2023, 09:20:57 AMQuote from: mishima on April 20, 2023, 08:22:14 PMQuote from: Thanatos on April 20, 2023, 04:41:28 PMWas that the ULU Rise Above show? I remember that day being particularly miserable, with it bucking down relentlessly. My only pair of shoes also weren't waterproof.
Moss didn't play that one. That was Electric Wizard, Grand Magus, Litmus, Gentlemans Pistols.. And I also suffered from non-waterproof shoes that weekend.
Class wee jaunt over, though!
Eh.... I believe they did. It's the December 13th 2008 show I'm talking about here.
Full lineup was: Serpentcult, Litmus, Moss, Diagonal, Taint, Gentlemans Pistols, Grand Magus, Electric Wizard.
Apologies!
I have no memory of them at all. Probably because I wasn't a fan at the time and wasn't bothered checking them out.
Quote from: mishima on April 27, 2023, 09:23:37 PMQuote from: Thanatos on April 27, 2023, 09:20:57 AMQuote from: mishima on April 20, 2023, 08:22:14 PMQuote from: Thanatos on April 20, 2023, 04:41:28 PMWas that the ULU Rise Above show? I remember that day being particularly miserable, with it bucking down relentlessly. My only pair of shoes also weren't waterproof.
Moss didn't play that one. That was Electric Wizard, Grand Magus, Litmus, Gentlemans Pistols.. And I also suffered from non-waterproof shoes that weekend.
Class wee jaunt over, though!
Eh.... I believe they did. It's the December 13th 2008 show I'm talking about here.
Full lineup was: Serpentcult, Litmus, Moss, Diagonal, Taint, Gentlemans Pistols, Grand Magus, Electric Wizard.
Apologies!
I have no memory of them at all. Probably because I wasn't a fan at the time and wasn't bothered checking them out.
Simon, I never forget a wet shoe. Nor a string vest, courtesy or GP. Shudder.
May have also been the night were a poor young Japanese girl, Tokyo Rose, ended up sharing a loud 8 bed dorm with 7 early morning arrival Irish pissheads, and you chastised her for opening her locked too loudly in the morning.
Quote from: BoobC on June 06, 2023, 06:47:19 PMMay have also been the night were a poor young Japanese girl, Tokyo Rose, ended up sharing a loud 8 bed dorm with 7 early morning arrival Irish pissheads, and you chastised her for opening her locked too loudly in the morning.
Haha! I remember her.. Blimey but she must have gotten some gunk when Niallo et al. arrived back.
I don't remember saying anything to her though. Maybe the wet shoes had frayed my patience.
Also, good to see you again lad! Hope you're keeping well! It's been way too long.
I rooted out Sub Templum here for the first time in over a decade I'd say. It was a bit of a disappointment for me when it came out. Nowhere near as all encompassing as Cthonic Rites, it seemed a little more tame by comparison, and not yet moving into the more uptempo (heh!) stuff that came soon after it. I also spent a bit of cash on the die hard vinyl and I thought it was weak compared to the die hard of Cthonic Rites. It all seemed a bit half arsed. I'm enjoying the tunes here now this morning, though. Grand with a cup of tae and the drizzle outside.
I went back to Cthonic Rites and Sub Templum a few months ago, would have been the first time in years I listened to either. I remember being the same, a lot less drawn in by Sub Templum but they both still sound great to me. Tons of nasty atmosphere but never felt over the top. Nicely stripped back and raw. I don't know of much that's done that kind of thing as well since. Been tempted by the records on Fuck Yoga, might be a good excuse to finally get that Bacterium record while I'm at it...
Is there any horrible sounding stuff like this from the last few years I might have missed?
Not really that I'm aware of. I can't say I've really searched for it though. I think the scene fizzled out along the way and got replaced by ultra heavy bands that lacked the evil. But I'm repeating myself now :laugh:
I'm mostly into music as a way to repeat myself.
I think the last doom thing I got really into that had plenty of nastiness was Disrotted. Maybe more on the sludge side of things.
I never went any further than Sub Templum with Moss for some weird reason.