Moloch — Sterben Unter Der Blasse Unvermeidlichkeit
The cd brings together 15 tracks in all, and these last between just over the thirty second mark to around the eleven minute mark. All of the tracks here are Moloch originals save for one Burzum cover.
The albums opens up with a fairly hopeful if a little wavering thirty second synth fanfare, before we are pulled down into the truly crawling & sluggish suicidal black/ goth punk dirge of “Depressive Visionen Eines Sterbenden Horizonts” which brings together stark yet slightly wondering bass lines, slowing spiralling black metal guitar cold-ness, stripped down drum patter heavy on cymbal crashing, and pained talky Ukraine vocals. It’s a great bleak & cold start to proceedings, but sadly it’s followed up by two fairly similar sounding tracks in the form of “Die Letzen Strahlen Der Sonne Verblassen In Der Kalte Der Apathie” & “Das Liebem Ist Wie Ein Vermundeter Vogel Der Langsam Vom Himmel Fallt”
The next effective moment comes in the form of track number five “E.khu”, which picks the pace up to a more mid yet slightly stumbling vibe. The track brings together a bounding ‘n’ cold guitar riff churn, that’s surrounded by muffled & wondering bass, darting/ cymbal crashing percussion back ground, and slight reverb shouted/ talking vocals(these only take up the first minute or so of the track). At around the three & half minute mark we drift into forlorn yet slightly pitch shifting dark synth scaping- this tips the song off in a nice bleak if slight off-kilter way.
One of the most effective & rewarding tracks here comes in the form of track seven’s eleven minute epic “Mein Heidnsich-Spirituelle Reise Durch Die Walder Der Gefallenen”. The track opens with a mix of melancholic yet clunky piano playing and storm sound, before moving onto mid-pace black metal ambient stomp. This is made up of layers of raising yet gloomy synth and guttural bays, underneath the lurching and slightly haphazard black metal guitar and drums. Then around the mid-way point, just when you think you have the track pined, it suddenly drops into a wavering & slightly wonky mixture of clear/ yet rapid guitar strumming & barren cowboy music with yelping and ye-harrs blacked metal like bays on top- I guess you’d call it lo-fi country black metal, then just before the end it suddenly switches into pomp synth orchestration.
The rest of the compilation plays in fairly varied style with the tracks moving from: baying & mostly slowed raw black metal, dark & moody synth scaping, winding & descending synth organ sound desents, dark ambience & mournful harmonic weaves. Through to the Buzum cover which takes “Gebrechlichkeit I” (original from the Filosofem album), and removes the blacked guitar churn & emotional screeching vocals of the original track to just focus on the mournful harmonic drone & weave of the synth textures.
So while “Sterben unter der Blässe der Unvermeidlichkeit” is not the most consistent & wholly rewarding Moloch compilation I’ve heard( that prize goes to 2012’s “Stiller Schrei des Winters”), there is enough here in variation & quilty of track to make this worth picking-up.