Moab, the Los Angeles three-piece signed to Kemado, fuse an old-school epic doom sound with Liebling-esque vocals and Metallic harmonies. The Middle Eastern vibe comes across very strong, but it's done inventively and with great attention to detail. The record sort of sags in the later half with sludge taking prominence over jazzy explorations that hearkened to Sabbaths criminally under-appreciated progressive endeavors, but overall the album does a good job of marrying 70s prog and 80s doom. Masterful guitar work and clever yet distinctive drumming propel songs through complex arrangement's and creative use of overdubbing yields a full and dynamic recording that is at equal times psychedelic and propulsive. Improvisational yet expertly crafted, the record attempts what early-OM attempted this last ten years: to join simple rhythms with complex melodies and structures. Where OM was content to achieve this sort of musical nirvana through drone, Moab is more concerned with crossing boundaries to open the minds of listeners to new sonic frontiers that are seemingly unrelated, but fundamentally the same. Although not totally successful to this end, the album with its first three songs in particular, promises a bright future for Moab and the progeny it is sure to spawn.
Thoughts?
I've had this album for a long while - its pretty damn good.
An album that is black yet white, loud yet soft, dynamo yet anti dynamo, free yet expensive, philosophical yet anti philosophical...
No music should be from Los Angeles, yet not from Los Angeles.