Release Date: October 03rd 2025. Record Label: Consouling Sounds / Lay Bare Recordings . Formats: CD/DD/Vinyl
Destroying Ourselves For A Place In The Sun - Tracklisting
1.Stone Eternal
2.Mather
3.Type 27
4.Mutant Body Double
5.Chaoism
6.In The Sun
Members
Mathlovsky
Gregory Simons
Maurice van der Es
Simon Felix
Jamal Talibi
Review.
Instrumental Doom/Sludge Metallers MODDER destroyed my whole world with their epic 2023 album The Great Liberation Through Hearing which became my favourite instrumental album of that year. I’m pleased to say the band may have achieved that honour again with their brutally heavy and groove addicted masterpiece that is Destroying Ourselves For A Place In The Sun. This album follows the same destructive path as that album but gives it more Grind, Industrial and Electronic based charges with impressive technical melodies being added for a different kind of sound as well.
Destroying Ourselves For A Place In The Sun doesn’t follow a simple creative linear with MODDER deconstructing their own musical legacy that they’ve built with their last two albums and then reshaping into something wholly different with a more primal attitude delving into harsh SONIC outbursts of EXTREME metal at times.
This sound is already fully formed and primed to explode within the stunning opening track Stone Eternal where MODDER welcomes the listener into their superbly horrifying world with dark Sludge Metal melodies and harsh Industrial landscapes. The sudden emergence of Psych, Cosmic and Electronica beats just pushes the whole Grind/Thrash attitude of MODDER’s sound into something groundbreaking original within its own right.
Second track Mather continues with that aggressive and melodic style of music that could easily have appeared on their previous album. The sudden Thrash/Grind/Groove Metal beats pushes the Doom/Sludge Metal narrative into the background at times but this is still absolutely thrilling to experience with MODDER embracing a nightmarish style of Industrial Metal before embracing their Psych/Doom/Sludge Metal heritage. The sound is more direct here with pounding instrumental passages feeling like you’re being hit over the head with Thor’s legendary hammer MJONHIR.
The highly collective use of Ambient sounds and Electronic glitches makes a welcome return from the last MODDER record but with a haunting Post-Rock energy holding everything together before MODDER explodes into violent musical one upmanship against each other. There are times where you think each individual band member is battling each other for musical domination and creative supremacy but still having that sublime “WORKING TOGETHER” momentum fully fleshed out at the same time.
Third track Type 27 allows MODDER to enter a world of Mastodon based Post-Doom/Post-Sludge passages before “KICKING OFF” yet again with another foray into complex metal breakdowns with a thrilling Progressive Sludge Metal narrative forming. The sound is equally vibrant and brutally dark with MODDER performing one of the most technically accomplished sounds I’ve heard from them. The haunting Post-Rock melodies offer a brief sense of humanity and emotion to MODDER’s core but that’s soon wrapped away with a daring style of Progressive Stoner Metal rhythms that once again sees the band redefine their sound and we’re just only half way through the album.
The second half of the album is equally brutal, weird, hypnotic and brilliantly original as the first half with MODDER exploring their more Primal side on tracks Mutant Body Double and In The Sun. The music becomes a bit more experimental but MODDER never loses sight of what made them such a great band in the first place. However, it’s the most unexpected quieter moments that appear within the heavier parts of the album that make Destroying Ourselves For A Place In The Sun such a soulful and beautiful record to listen to.
Destroying Ourselves For A Place In The Sun is without doubt the best instrumental album of the year with MODDER showcasing highly original sounds of their very own making. MODDER are perhaps becoming my favourite Instrumental Metal band which is down to their unique musical perspective and breaking new ground in delivering new styles of extreme heaviness to the genre but still remaining completely TRUE to the absolute scene as well.
Words by Steve Howe
Thanks to Viral Propaganda PR for the promo.
Destroying Ourselves For A Place In The Sun is available to buy now on CD/DD/Vinyl from the links below:
Links
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