Moloken
Our astral circle
Discouraged Records
While Moloken's wonderful debut release "We all face the dark alone" showcased a band with the potential to deliver high-quality, sludgy metal, it only hinted at the abundant genius held within the ranks of this Swedish quartet. Only a year later this ingenuity has been fully realized in "Our astral circle" as we find an outfit that has honed their songwriting skills to as damn near perfect as is humanly possible. Moloken have demonstrated that post-metal doesn't have to be a one-dimensional entity, and they've done it with such style that they have created a versatile body of work that defies genre convention. There's everything on offer here, from the ethereal uneasiness of "Untitled II" to the metal savagery of "My enemy" to the doomed despair of closer "11"12". There's also a certain looseness about this album, as if the band have felt their way in the studio rather than laboring over every minor detail, but that's not to say that this is a sloppy recording. Far from it, in fact. To have this music any tighter or, indeed, cleaner would render it simply good rather than great. Integral to this characteristic is a superior production, which allows the nuances of each instrument to shine through and affords "Our astral circle" a genuine, warts-and-all, quality. In the realm of Moloken diversity is king; delicate passages punctuate abrasive walls of sound and everything comes together to produce an album that is central to this band's ethos: semper heavius maximus!
- John Norby
