Article By: Pat ‘Riot’ Whitaker ‡ Edited By: Leanne Ridgeway
“Through mighty sounds of our crying Earth, we’re channeling frustration of a modern world.” This appears to be the mantra and/or mission statement of Sweden’s Moon Mother and their newly released ‘Riffcraft‘.
It is a totally respectable undertaking too for the quartet of singer Sara Trollpacka, drummer Jesper Wallin, guitarist Pat Ahlström, and bassist Thomas V Jäger (of Monolord, who also produced this). On their official 4-song debut here, the foursome blends an appealing elixir of bluesy Stoner Doom with abundant classic rock influences.
Fierce but oh-so-fluid fuzzy riffs fuel these songs along but at many points, the stellar stand-out is Sara’s vocals. The aptly titled opening number, “Vast Blues“, is a slow churning soup of oozing music and her soulful crooning. You can feel a somewhat subtle melancholy creep into your spirit and there it remains.
“Black Hole Demons” and “Mountain Of Lies” is teeming with the essence of natural, organic vibes. Each is an impressive foray into the heady forest of mostly soothing doom, it envelops and flows through you. All the while, vintage overtones permeate every note and vocal inflection to provide a valid retro consistency throughout.
For me, the highlight of the record is the album-closing end piece, the number where it all comes together as one, “The Wizards Of Earth“. With an almost eight-minute playing time, there is plenty to sample and taste and it all begins with some simmering blues. At times haunting and simple, other ones are complexly intriguing within the rippling undercurrent of varying time signatures and tempos. Plus, the stellar guitar work stitched throughout the track possesses a laid-back but powerful presence.
If retro-tinged blues with nuances of doom, musical minimalism, and earthy, Wiccan-like themes appeal to you then I think this will too. There’s probably at least one certain way to find out and that is to shoot for the Moon Mother via their ‘Riffcraft‘ right now via the Bandcamp embed below. Once there, you can snag this great short-player as an NYP (Name Your Price) item [link].
