Moloch — II

2010 gave us another release from Ukraines’ dark ambient/black metal project Moloch.  II is a compilation of two previous EP’ s; tracks 1-3 are from “In einer U mar mung von tiefen kalten Waldern”, tracks 4-6 are from the EP “Apathisches Licht von einem rot schwarzen Horizont” both released in 2010. The  Moloch project began in 2002 and since then it has issued an onslaught of demos, splits, box sets, eps and full lengths.  All this is created and executed by Pr. Sergiy Fjordsson.

While quite a lot of Molochs work is in the black metal vein, there are always elements of dark ambient added to the mix.  Here on II we find a bit of a departure, as this cd focuses exclusively on the more ambient side of Moloch.  The six tracks here are mainly concentrated on keyboards, piano and various ambient sounds; some of those sounds are a shade more industrial others not so much. 

The basic theme is one of melancholy but with a strong sense of melody.   Plenty of minor chords abound along with dissonant piano passages.  It all has a soundtrack feel to it.  It’s definitely a deviation from the typical black metal cd, but it stands up on the compositions alone.  The only complaint would be that some of the pieces seem a shade meandering.  While on a whole the project is cohesive as far as compilations go it would have enhanced the atmosphere to have some ambient sounds in-between the tracks linking them or at least giving a focus to the overall significance.