ALL IS LEFT TO SEE

"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.

Formed in Umeå, Sweden, in 2007, Moloken want to create progressive experimental music that has a basis in metal, particularly the black metal scene. I was a massive fan of Rakoth when I first heard them many years ago, and both bands have a similar approach to their music. Here though, we have quite a short album, which was their first release in four years when it came out in 2015. Comprised of eight songs with a total length of less than half an hour, three of these are themselves shorter than 90 seconds, with one of these less than a minute. What is amazing then, is the amount of emotion that they manage to cram into everything they do. The vocals are raw, and kept surprisingly low in the mix, so that the twin guitars of Kristoffer Bäckström and Patrik Ylmefors are at the front, with the rhythm section of Jakob Burstedt and Nicklas Bäckström right there in your face. It is raw yet polished, basic but intelligent, and is always hammering into the brain with a feeling of ice and power. Just playing this album makes me feel cold, although as I write this I am in the middle of a Southern Hemisphere summer. I look out at the evening bright sunshine, yet am chilled to the bone.

This is powerful stuff, and it is only by playing close attention that the listener gets the most out of it. In some ways, it would be incredibly easy to dismiss this as "just" another black metal album with ideas above its' station. But listen to the complexity of the arrangements, especially to the drummer's polyrhythms and shuffles, and one realises that this is quite a piece of work. But are we going to have to wait four years until the next one? I hope not