Moon

Re-released in 2015, this early demo by Moon retains all its demonic, manic fury and frosty atmosphere. From the insane programmed percussion, maxed out to levels even the Satanic hordes would be pressured to maintain, to the sad howling wraiths, the icy synth-ambient wash and the spidery guitars, this work is a study in how far you can go with a particular sound-art approach in creating instrumental atmospheric and sorrowful black metal aiming to immerse listeners totally in dark soundscapes. In spite of the frenzied activity and the energy put forth, the music doesn't change very much and there's a sadness behind it that stays constant throughout and which oddly feels quite serene and restful.

All three tracks are fierce and aggressive but for me the middle track has the edge on the others due to key changes in parts of the riffing that send the listener into deeper, bleaker levels of existence within the black worlds generated by the music. In the third track, the cold winter ambience has a more important role in guiding the music, with the last minute or so offering some kind of comfort or redemption with the cold wash. The joins between tracks are not seamless and the guy behind Moon probably could have given some thought to re-recording the beginnings and ends of the tracks to achieve smoother transitions from one track to the next.

For all its fury, this music expresses desperate sadness as if even Satan's demons experience the pain and sorrow of existence. Whether it's their own existence they bewail or that of the mortals they torture in hell, no-one knows. Or perhaps they remember their time as humans above ground and mourn their misdeeds. Whatever demons and phantoms wandering restlessly and eternally across Earth feel, this recording gives us an insight into other beings' pain and agony.

Hailing from Australia, Miasmyr journeys alone in Moon; recently putting out shivering black metal releases through splits and demos. The three lengthy tracks of self-titled demo “Moon,” mesh into one another and build a frozen wall of sound with wraith-like vocals and haunting riffs, embodying the strength of falling hail the size of golf balls.


“Moon I” is the first slate of ice and hits just under the eight minute mark, summing up all the feelings of those first couple of black metal albums that truly evoked the feeling of a giant blizzard, fretting nothing but coldness. Not waiting for some boring old intro, the music is ever moving, fast and certainly chaotic. The cry of Miasmyr is heard about a minute in and is a hoarse scream that blends well into the music. The effects are way in the background and sound like resonating vocalizations painting a crisp, blue atmosphere with black spilt across. “Moon II” comes still with all of the distortion and simple rhythms of the song before, this time with more shrill vocals and a hardly noticeable, faster beat. Now at the final track, the vocals on “Moon III” are distorted, sounding mechanized and pulsing. There are a couple of short breaks and drowned guitars that are slightly more audible, straying more away from the tightness of the instruments.


This demo is one giant snowball, every song engulfed by another. If you played this album backwards or with randomized tracks, you probably wouldn’t know, with the exception of a few parts in “Moon III.” While the great, raw black metal on “Moon” is definitely not something to brush off, some more character added to the individual songs would be appreciated, though the droning haze effect was probably planned.