THE MOTH – Frost [LP+CD]

Frost by The Moth released September 22nd, 2023 by Exile On Mainstream Records. 140g black pure virgin vinyl. 3mm spined sleeve, printed 4c + aqueous matte varnish. Polylined inner sleeve. 1st press limited to 500 copies. CD included. Tracklisting: Side A 01 Me, Myself & Enemy 02 Birmingham 03 Battlefield 04 Bruised 05 Cathedral 06 Hundreds Side B 01 Frost 02 In The City 03 Dust 04 Silent With three albums under their belt, THE MOTH are no newbies and have honed their no-nonsense approach to SludgeMetalDoom on numerous tours and gigs. Their songs are virtually void of frills, instead opting to turn out hammer heavy drums and riff ready rock ’n’ roll – as brutal as it is bewitching. Since their acclaimed debut They Fall in 2013, the Hamburg heavy trio THE MOTH have regularly delivered tracks with a catchiness that is surprising for the genre. Kim Wilde meets Bolt Thrower, they call it themselves, or like a review for the last album Hysteria (2017) did put it: “pop music played with a bulldozer”. How appropriate! THE MOTH are now taking this approach to new heights with their upcoming album. Frost is set to be released on Exile On Mainstream on 22 September 2022. Catchy hooklines get stuck in the listener’s heart and mind like a dislodged meat hook, explaining why the band calls their style doom-sludge pop. That’s it. Simple as that, yet nailing the sound. Lyrically, however, THE MOTH show a new openness and vulnerability under the shell of raw power that the songs initially present. Experiencing and living through strokes of fate runs through the record as a recurring theme – all under a rough shell of distinctive and deliberately raw sound. Cécile (vocals/bass), Freden (guitar/vocals) and Curry (drums) perform the dichotomy with a high recognition value. Boring riff hum and mantric stoner-esk repetition are not their thing. Anyone who experiences THE MOTH live will automatically find themselves in front of the stage with a biting head nod, a thirst for beer and a fist clenched at hip height. Frost was recorded live in only 24 hours, recorded and mixed by Jose Lorenzo, at Bombrec Recording. Mastered by Timo Höcke, at Die Wellenschmiede. After three albums on the fantastic This Charming Man label, THE MOTH now present their label debut on Exile On Mainstream with Frost.