MOLOKEN — All Is Left to See (review)

MOLOKEN — All Is Left to See album cover Album · 2015 · Atmospheric Sludge Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
UMUR
"All Is Left to See" is the 3rd full-length studio album by Swedish sludge/post metal act Moloken. The album was released through Temple of Torturous in October 2015. Moloken was formed in 2007 and released their debut full-length studio album "Our Astral Circle" in 2009. "All Is Left to See" was preceeded by "Rural" from 2011.

Stylistically the music on "All Is Left to See" is still situated in atmospheric sludge/post metal territory, like the case also was on the predecessor. "All Is Left to See" is slightly different from what the band has released before though, as it´s a pretty short release featuring only 8 tracks and a full playing time of 29:12 minutes. That in itself isn´t necessarily strange or an issue, but when you learn that 3 out of those 8 tracks are short interludes, it becomes a bit more of a topic. Add to that, that the closing track "Beginning of the End" is a quiet, melancholic, and atmospheric instrumental featuring a lead violin, the album in reality only features 4 "regular" length sludge/post metal tracks. Again that´s not necessarily an issue if the short interlude tracks and the atmospheric closing track added something special to the flow of the album, but other than "Beginning of the End", which is actually a beautiful way of closing an album, the other short interludes work more as distractions than enhancements of the album flow. Harsh put it´s like the band had some half-finished ideas, that they ended up using as fillers, because of lack of original material to put on the album. A bit of a shame really, because all 4 "regular" tracks are pretty great atmospheric sludge/post metal.

The sound production is raw, powerful, and detailed, and suits the music well. The musicianship is on a high level on all posts. I especially noticed the drumming which is quite memorable. The vocals are well performed aggressive shouting. So there are redeeming factors involved when coming to a conclusion regarding a rating for "All Is Left to See". I can safely say I was more content with "Rural (2011)" and that I find "All Is Left to See" too fragmented and lacking direction, but on the other hand, it´s obvious that Moloken are on to something great. It´s just the way they´ve opted to present it this time around which doesn´t work that well. So a 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is still deserved.
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