Chaos Moon are a one-man project by Alex Poole, who’s currently of formerly involved with bands and projects like In Ruins, Lithotome, Esoterica (I would invite you to see read the review on the superb new album Aseity, posted on March 24th 2014 on this site), Coffin or Krieg a. o. He started this project with the goal to create his own vision on Black Aural Art, and he recorded some EP’s and two full length albums. But when he joined Krieg’s army, and because of his activities in some new projects, he decided to put Chaos Moon to rest, at least for a while. In 2013 however he had some newly written material, so Alex re-awoke Chaos Moon to have this stuff recorded and released under this moniker. Enter 2014: the release of the third album, Resurrection Extract, seven years after the last one. Thank you, Alex, to do so. It makes me happily unhappy…
And the result isn’t just a messy, inappropriately-composed one. Resurrection Extract lasts for almost one hour and is, once again, a multi-layered record. The album opens with the introductional track Seeing Through The I (with its three minutes the shortest piece on the album), which gives an idea of Chaos Moon’s approach: an aural expression of grim atmospheres and dark thoughts. With Bloodfall this idea gets proven. This song is a pretty fast and energetic one, balancing in between transcendental introspection and lunar violence. It stands for bold Black Metal drenched in eerie psychedelica, cosmic-spherical dreamscapes and suffocating dimensions. The melodies balance in between haunting tremolos with a hint of Blackgaze (I still wonder who invented this term, but it certainly is appropriate; just listen, for example, to the intro on Asemic Weakness to understand, and to agree), and little epic, pounding melody-structures at the other. It gets supported by little repetitive riffs, a forceful rhythm section and hypnotic leads. The vocals are of an extremely breath-taking kind, with a couple of false-harmonious chants. Apparently there are no keyboards on this album, yet sometimes it sounds as if… I am not convinced there are none, but who am I?... The ambience-creation is based purely on the primal riffing, and that adds defines the mesmerizing attitude of the album.
One problem, however: the inferior sound, caused by a messy mix. A pity.
For fans of earlier Alcest, Paramnesia, Weakling, Lurker Of Chalice, Lantlôs, Wolves In The Throne Room or Esoterica.