Moss

The fourth full-length from English purveyors of doom lugubriousness Moss, Horrible Night is a droning monument to misery and the ponderous, inextricable weight of existence; it also represents a distinct lightening in tone and execution from their past efforts. While still drenched in distortion and a profound, reverberating melancholy, Horrible Night is nimbler than their other releases, featuring two songs clocking in at less than ten minutes (and even one under five). Deeply influenced by dark, occult atmospheres and the writings of horror icon H.P. Lovecraft, despite this drift towards more dextrous compositions, Moss continue to create suffocating, claustrophobic aural landscapes. It's as though the record is smothering the listener via smoke inhalation, the thick tones and inexorable weight of the songs leeching all oxygen from the room. The towering "Dark Lady" goes for a particularly tight stranglehold, the massive riffs drawing closer with each shuddering revolution, like a boa constrictor crushing you to death with its body, then swallowing you whole. Not heavy for the sake of, Horrible Night also possesses sophisticated melodies and even bright moments of clarity, especially in the haunting clarion vocals. This is a weird, wicked and intoxicating record.