Release Date: June 06th 2025. Record Label: Argonauta Records / Octopus Rising. Formats: CD/DD
Colonize - Tracklisting
Full Machete – 06:01
Falling Through The Ashes – 08:03
The Dawn – 05:58
Electric Brain in The Mirror of Doom – 06:00
Third Space part 1 (Wander) – 05:31
Third Space part 2 (No Return) – 06:01
Review
Colonize is the sophomore album from Doom/Grunge/Stoner/Sludge Metallers MoldEra which sees the band explore their Fuzzy and Progressive surroundings even further compared to their 2022 debut album Waste Pile Dunes. The record is quite vast with MoldEra sounding quite different throughout every song with influences ranging from Deftones, NIN, SLEEP, YOB and Alice In Chains. There is a raw sounding backdrop of COSMIC themes with sludgy industrial guitars chopping away in the background.
The record gets straight down to business of laying out the heavy Progressive Sludge/Post-Metal heartbeat grooves within the opening track Full Machete. The vocals are quite rough in places but have a certain underground vitality to them. MoldEra operate with Grunge and Post-Stoner attitude which becomes more commonplace on the other tracks of the record.
The lyrics held on Colonize are quite thought provoking, dealing with Environmental themes and the evil influence of Social Media Giants with warnings of global catastrophe not too far behind. So this is a record that has BRAINS and BRAWN to match with MoldEra cleverly creating a subversive record which is very hard to disagree with.
However, the music is where it matters most with MoldEra transforming into a Post-Stoner/Grunge creative entity on the next few tracks of Falling Through The Ashes and The Dawn. With that fuzzy and distorted SONIC instrumental passages appearing, MoldEra becomes closely linked to the likes of SLEEP and even KING BUFFALO for a sound that defies genre categorisation. Colonize thrives further when MoldEra starts injecting heavy amounts of distorted atmospherics and harsh clean vocals to leave an unsettling destructive feeling at times.
The record experiments with Noise and Sonic frequencies that allows the production values to be quite aggressive and threatening when MoldEra experiments with a Post-Punk and Doomgaze attitude on The Dawn and Electric Brain In The Mirror Of Doom. The music is played a commanding slow-to-mid pace which allows the grooves to grow naturally and retain a sense of creative urgency which results with some of the heaviest and aggressive grooves on the whole record.
The final two tracks of Third Space Part 1 (Wander) and Third Space Part 2 (No Return) is the most hard-hitting aspect of Colonize with MoldEra closing all their creative threads with a truly apocalyptic and destructive sound that is delivered mostly through harsh levels of distorted Sludge Metal that ultimately leaves you fully satisfied from start to finish.
Colonize is a splendid journey and welcome diversion into MoldEra’s dark world where the music is always engaging, challenging and brilliantly heavy throughout. Play this at FULL VOLUME and lose yourself within an epic sounding record.
Words by Steve Howe
Thanks to Grand Sounds Promotion for the promo.
Colonize is available to buy now on CD/DD via Octopus Rising / Argonauta Records
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