(written by Islander)
We’ve been avidly following the Philadelphia-based extreme metal band Moros since the days of their first EP in 2016, and now we reconnect with them because in March they will release their second full-length, aptly titled Cemetery Hallucinations.
In its current configuration, Moros includes founding guitarist/vocalist Jay Dost, founding bassist and backing vocalist John Hauser, and drummer Mike Howard. Over time, their music has stylistically evolved, moving from punk-infused sludge to the kind of dreadful and damaging music encompassed by their last EP and even more so by this new album. To quote Jay Dost:
“[We’ve been] honing in on our sound beyond simply a sludge band with some death and black metal elements, we forged a much more fierce and focused approach in song writing. Cemetery Hallucinations is the ultimate culmination of that process and truly feels like a brand new statement from us, rather than a continuation of where we came from.”
The new album also marks the first time that Moros have recorded their music in a fully professional studio environment. As a thrilling and chilling sign of where Moros have musically moved, what we have for you today is a song from the new album fittingly named “Consumed By Agony“.
This song is one that’s calculated to give listeners a case of traumatic whiplash. In part it’s a monstrous, lurching stomp, and in part it’s a convulsion of eviscerating violence — and it leaps between those tag-team horrors without warning.
But those two different manifestations of ghastliness are connected in multiple ways, despite the stark differences in speed and mood. In both phases the down-tuned guitar tone is authentically diseased, and it insidiously vibrates even when the music is gruesomely decaying and slowly moaning in agony. Moreover, that dismally moaning riff persists even as the music convulses — it just becomes dramatically more distressed and disturbed.
In both phases the music is also humongously heavy, thanks to the rhythm section’s pulverizing stomps, booming detonations, and thunderous upheavals. The vocals provide yet another connection — they’re the kind of madhouse howls and berserk screams that spawn visions of a criminal asylum on fire.
The song proves to be both festering and cataclysmic, and for good measure also inflict a cold-hearted dose of battering-ram slugs and a diabolically screaming guitar solo that sounds like white-hot demon ecstasies. And in addition to being a bone-smashing and a mind-bender, “Consumed By Agony” is also fiendishly infectious.
Moros cites life in Philadelphia, Coffins, Autopsy, Bolt Thrower, Archgoat, and horror movies as core influences. Past projects connected to members include Occult 45, Fight Amp, Sunburster, and Nauseator. Current associated projects include Rid Of Me, Krieg, Malguist, and ANTIHÆLIX.
Cemetery Hallucinations was mixed and engineered by Matt Weber at Gradwell House Studios and mastered by Arthur Rizk. The attention-seizing cover artwork (which beautifully manifests the album’s name) and layout design were handled by Mike Howard and Julianne Cole.
The album will be released on March 13th, on vinyl by Strange Mono Records (with proceeds benefitting the Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania – Diabetes center), on cassette tape by Knife Hits, and on digital format by Strange Mono and the band.
Find pre-orders via the links below, and also give a listen to the album’s diseased, devastating, and delirious first single, “Drowned In Decomposed Remains“.
PRE-ORDER:
https://strangemono.bandcamp.com/album/cemetery-hallucinations
https://knifehitscollective.bandcamp.com/album/cemetery-hallucinations
https://moros-666.bandcamp.com/album/cemetery-hallucinations
MOROS:
https://moros-666.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/MOROS666/
https://www.instagram.com/moros_filth