Release Date: May 04th 2024. Record Label: Sloomweep Productions. Formats: CD/DD
Sun Moon Holy Cult - Sun Moon Holy Cult: Tracklisting
1.I Cut Your Throat 08:33
2.Savoordoom 13:33
3.Mystic River 07:20
4.Out of the Dark 11:06
Review
Psychedelic Stoner/Doom Metal Sun Moon Holy Cult debut album is a wicked blend of Doom, Sludge, Stoner, Fuzz and masses of Heavy Metal energy within it’s seedy underbelly of aggressive based grooves. Fans of Black Sabbath, Saint Vitus and Church Of Misery will be wholly impressed with the band’s own demented style of LOW & SLOW sludgy guitars that appear on the album.
There’s quite a dark 1970’s sinister DOOM ROCK sound that does see the band capture a Garage Rock or Proto-Doom flavour to their music. There’s moments of Jazzy interludes that veer into rough Psychedelic sounds that have some wicked moments of Stoner based freakouts that appear within the sublime opening track of I Cut Your Throat.
Sun Moon Holy Cult are perhaps defined by a JAM ROCK philosophy that appears within their music that almost have a free form creative expression even when the SONIC and PSYCHEDELIC textures that appear throughout the album. The vocals are not what I expected and that’s a good thing as they have an unapologetic and aggressive feeling to them which allows this album to have quite a defining Punk Rock and DIY approach to the production values for the whole record. Sometimes the album can be too rough and ready with the grooves being too quiet in places but Sun Moon Holy Cult soon expand into DRONE based atmospherics
There are influences as diverse as Uncle Acid, Monster Magnet, UFOMAMMUT and SLEEP on the record especially on the longer tracks of Savourdoom and Out Of The Dark. These tracks allow Sun Moon Holy Cult to slowly expand their levels of Psychedelic Metal aggression with more traditional Proto Doom Metal passages which then changes again into familiar WEEDIAN based themes and tropes the genre always offers.
However, there’s a certain charm to Sun Moon Holy Cult's debut album which makes me want to hear more from the band in the future. They’re hugely talented and have the potential to make a name for themselves within the underground Doom/Stoner Metal scene. They’re not the finished article just yet but they’re on the right track into providing some really startling sounds and grooves in the future.
Overall, this is a superbly entertaining record despite the raw sounding production values. I recommend checking these guys out now as you’ll be surprised by what you hear.
Excellent and Highly Recommended.
Words by Steve Howe
Thanks to Sloomweep Productions and Sun Moon Holy Cult for the promo.
Sun Moon Holy Cult debut album is available to buy now on CD/DD via Sloomweep Productions.
Links
