We have been shilling out quite a bit of modern black metal this year, but it seemed like time for something from the kvlt and tr00 rulebook. Moloch is a Ukranian black metal band and shares its name with an ancient god associated with child sacrifice (unless they are refering to the aging villain from the Watchmen comics). Leviticus 18:21: "And thou shalt not let any of thy seeds (children) pass through the fire to Moloch." As foreboding as that passage is, it has nothing on this music.
Verwüstung (Devastation) is an album utterly enclosed in darkness. Sharing the purposefully canned production qualities of early Darkthrone and Mayhem, compositions are harsh, grim affairs. Blastbeats bite at your ears from the other side of the abyss. High pitched shrieks and howls threaten your very being. Tremolos and chord structures range from the doomy, to the melodic, to the more bombastic worship of Emperor and Nokturnal Mortum.
But perhaps more unsettling than any of the "music" here are the ambient intro and outro. When contrasted with the unforgiving raw and aggressive qualities of the rest of the album, these subtle pieces are deafeningly quiet. The result is suffocating, and I'll admit the transition from intro to the first song made me jump a bit. Been a while since a song made me do that.
If you ask the pro's, black metal, above all, is to remain "unsafe." If nothing else, Verwüstung definitely makes me feel that. There is no fanfare, just pure, anxiety-provoking metal. Check it out below and be sure to support the group in their future endeavors if it catches your demented fancy.