Australian act Moon (one of the hundred bands with that moniker), a solo-project by a guy called Paul Marsh aka Miasmyr (also formerly known from e.g. Urgrund, Forn Valdyrheim or Catacombs), return with the second full length, after a couple of minis and splits. The first album easily made it into my top-five of 2011; Caduceus Chalice was, just like the mini-albums done before, a pleasure for ear and brain in case ‘Underground’ is your thing. And since I am devoted to this kind of aural beauty… For the interested ones: the review I did is still available; just check out the update on July 17th 2011 within the Archives-tab.
The Nine Gates is the second full length, originally done in a limited edition of 100 copies on Germany’s Schattenkult Produktionen on February 16th 2013. Moribund, the very same label that did release Caduceus Chalice, are so kind to present this grimly recorded stuff on CD right now, and this in a larger number of copies. Hail! Gratitude!
The Nine Gates opens with an eerie intro (The Rejection Of Flesh), but as from Inhale Darkness, Moon bring what they are known for: utterly grim, cold, oppressive and funereal Underground Black Metal, combining the haunting melodies from the USBM scene with the suffocative morbidity of the Nordic scene. It’s an ominous expression of nihilism and primitivism, dwelling into spheres of abyssal bleakness, apocalypse and lunar obscurity. Once again, Moon’s expression of Ambient Black Metal gets penetrated by elements from suicidal Black and Funeral Doom. The main tempo is pretty slow, but there are several faster outbursts (although less than before; the main tempo is focused on slow, pounding and lugging atmospheres), and the production is extremely lo-fi. The latter, that under-produced sound might bother some, for the balance in between the individual players (read: instruments and vocals) might sound way too convenient / un-convenient. Notwithstanding my passion (or is it ‘obsession’) for that stiff-middle-finger-in-your-god’s-ass underground sound, I think that The Nine Gates would / could have been much more intense if this noisy production was done with better care, because this stuff unfortunately sounds like a messy mush. A terrible pity, for the material is, once again, majestic and colossal. Therefor I cannot give a score higher than I did with the former album.