Moloken
Rural

Quite the clever name for a band with a dark looking album cover for their second album called Rural, Moloken is a Swedish word for morose and similar synonyms to that word. According to the press information it is dark metal with a dark moody sound, post metal is a thing mentioned in a review of the album I read and so on in that fashion. Atmosphere is a word that seems to be often used in conjuncture with Moloken and their music. The album cover is quite a fascinating story in itself with a dark look as well as a quite mysterious look as well, one could say that it has a morose look but also a look of thought and a mind behind the cover art. However that might just be a figment of my imagination which is a quite vivid thing.

Musically it is what is generally known as post metal, doomy dark slowish atmospheric black metal for the one who is looking for those overly detailed genre determinations. The main thing of this band is slow moody black metal that is in a morose mode, the vocals are slow growls. Atmosphere is a word that cannot be overused when it comes to the music of the Rural album, as the mood and atmosphere seems to be the main focal point in the song writing for this album. It is not particularly heavy I would state and the tempo is overall very low, the songs are decently varied through the tracks and the production seems focused on bringing forth the atmosphere in the song. On the Rural album there are seven tracks and they will require 52 minutes to be played in its entirety.

I think the Moloken second album is a good one, the morose mood and the atmosphere creates an impressive feel to the album. I think this album has a really strong point in the atmosphere it coveys, it is almost like you can feel the darkness inside a darkness that we all carries within is conveyed by this Umeå based band. The feel is a bit rural as well, given it a sense of an autumn day when the temperature is closing on freezing and the snow is slowly starting to mix with the rain. So, dark and rural, exciting and well written, it is clearly a good album that should appeal to anyone who likes darkish metal.

But there are some flaws, sound and atmosphere is good but there are no standout tracks and no hit that lives with you when the album ends. It is a good listen but for nothing really remains with me at the time the music stops, that is however not quite true as the mood of the album remains and keeps me entertained for a while longer. I would say that Moloken make good on the promise that came up from the name, it is a moloken album if you were a swede you would understand that point, but as you are some other guy you will have to guess I guess.

So, atmospheric dark doomy black metal that is good and interesting, an album from a genre that I don’t really like normally but Moloken’s Rural is a very interesting album. And a good one at that.