Only the Dead Know Our Secrets

It starts off with a stoner riff and tapping drum shuffle, but Mosara have already reverted to proper rumbling doom metal within the first minute of Only the Dead Know Our Secrets. This second full-length followed the first by hardly more than a year, though I would wager that some of the songs on the debut were pretty weathered by the time they were recorded. Plenty of elements cause Only the Dead to rank above Mosara for me, and prime among them is the sort of doom that the quartet now concentrate on. Previously using a jam-like ‘70s vibe as a point of exploration from thick grooves and slightly sludgy riffing, the sonic identity of these 4 new songs revolves around a rumbling, mystic compromise of fat doom, stoner moods, and sludge vocals. The songs have lengthened and the Americans have really focused on developing each one in a more cohesive manner, to the point that the experience - though just 33 minutes altogether - strongly draws the listener down in its own world.

Actually, one exciting element to the latest Mosara development is how much the bass gets used in a cut like ‘Zion’s Eyes’. Think back to the first couple of Om albums and the sparse bass riffing that repeated until you thought you had dissolved into the essence of Al Cisneros; that’s sort of what happens at the quieter moments, though guitar is of course added here, either in huge chunky staggering steps, or in smooth explorative moments of psychedelic insight that tend to unfold in the later stages of each song. Honestly, apart from the reappearance of the strained yells from Tony Gallegos, I feel that Mosara have taken all the most potent parts of their debut and built songs around them, even hinting more at the otherworldly character that they touched briefly on a few early cuts. All the same, you won’t be meditating to this album, not when several backing vocalists join in to shout “fuck you” during ‘The Permanence of Isolation’, nor when that cut evolves steadily into an exciting freakout of mountainous chords and a lead on the edge of losing control. Here the confrontational vocals make sense, while the generally high amount of instrumental time also works in the band’s favour.

It depends on how you plan to listen to this album as to what you’ll get out of it. By that I mean Mosara have catered towards an umbrella of heavy music tastes that include that whole doom/stoner/sludge area, but also balance the mood and methods well enough that most fans of slow stuff will enjoy what they hear. Only the Dead Know Our Secrets has a dark vibe without turning me off in certain moods, since I can kick back and enjoy the big riffs if I prefer. It’s reflective at moments too, such as when the title track winds down near the end, yet no large shifts occur in the musical landscape to cause a sudden loss of interest. The small touches of atmosphere work much better than they did on the raw-sounding debut, while the vocals have been sensibly integrated and in some cases reduced to the extent that I could imagine listening to this as a pure instrumental album. Looking forward to more from these guys.