Moratorium - Stripped Of All Sacred
2003 - Self-released.
By Philip Whitehouse
Go to the Moratorium website.
Stripped Of All Sacred is the work of one man, the impressively talented Martin Machin, formerly of London death/thrashers Ligature, and marks his first real foray into recording his own material and performing vocals. Despite these limitations, the album gives an idea into what could become a very impressive project, given more time and experience.
The vibe of the music is something akin to a cross between black metal and doom/death - the vocals are alternately grunted and screamed, and the riffs range between mid-tempo, crushing chug-a-thons to more cutting, tremolo-picked passages, with occasional impressive soloing for good measure. Think My Dying Bride on speed having a scrap with Mayhem and you're getting a rough guide. The music is unrepentantly heavy, and the programmed drums, while sadly a little too mechanical to be convincing, are nonetheless sufficiently competently programmed to fit the music well.
The only things that let Moratorium down are Machin's inexperience with recording. The incredibly dense production tends to let the guitars drown everything else out - the bass is largely inaudible, and the growled vocals too are totally unintelligible. The screams cut through the mix a little better, but for the most part the inclusion of keyboards and samples is utterly unnoticeable unless they're used for intro or outro sections of songs. Even the solos and lead guitar work is occasionally obscured somewhat by the over-amped, buzzy tone of the rhythm guitar.
However, the quality of the songwriting and sheer brutal nature of the music still shines even through these production limitations - so it would be very interesting to see what Moratorium can produce in the future, either when Martin Machin gets more recording and producing experience or, more hopefully, when Moratorium get signed and can spend some time in a large studio with an established producer.
6.5/10
2003 - Self-released.
By Philip Whitehouse
Go to the Moratorium website.
Stripped Of All Sacred is the work of one man, the impressively talented Martin Machin, formerly of London death/thrashers Ligature, and marks his first real foray into recording his own material and performing vocals. Despite these limitations, the album gives an idea into what could become a very impressive project, given more time and experience.
The vibe of the music is something akin to a cross between black metal and doom/death - the vocals are alternately grunted and screamed, and the riffs range between mid-tempo, crushing chug-a-thons to more cutting, tremolo-picked passages, with occasional impressive soloing for good measure. Think My Dying Bride on speed having a scrap with Mayhem and you're getting a rough guide. The music is unrepentantly heavy, and the programmed drums, while sadly a little too mechanical to be convincing, are nonetheless sufficiently competently programmed to fit the music well.
The only things that let Moratorium down are Machin's inexperience with recording. The incredibly dense production tends to let the guitars drown everything else out - the bass is largely inaudible, and the growled vocals too are totally unintelligible. The screams cut through the mix a little better, but for the most part the inclusion of keyboards and samples is utterly unnoticeable unless they're used for intro or outro sections of songs. Even the solos and lead guitar work is occasionally obscured somewhat by the over-amped, buzzy tone of the rhythm guitar.
However, the quality of the songwriting and sheer brutal nature of the music still shines even through these production limitations - so it would be very interesting to see what Moratorium can produce in the future, either when Martin Machin gets more recording and producing experience or, more hopefully, when Moratorium get signed and can spend some time in a large studio with an established producer.
6.5/10
