Mould - Pull & Repulsion

 

 

Mould - Pull & Repulsion
Polderrecords – 2024
Metal, Doom, Sludge
Rated: ****

It is heartbreaking from time to time. The Doom Charts Contributors do all their work on their personal sites and for the monthly Chart with love and a heart bursting with admiration for the albums they cherish. And then the charts are published, 40 of the usually 200 plus albums that received votes that month. And right there, on number 41 or 42 or 44, is that album you loved so hard and hoped would end up higher. It is heartbreaking. But the amount of amazing releases, every month again, is insane. We said that many times before and we can keep repeating it. One such album that suffered this fate, is Pull & Repulsion by Dutch five-piece Mould. Their debut album came out on Polderrecords on May 17th and even if they did not make the published Chart, it did get some of the love and attention it deserves. Reviews and features popped up here and there. But as usual, it deserves more. Mixed by Matthijs Kievit and mastered my Pieter Kloos, the six tracks on the Pull & Repulsion album can be viewed as the now classic interpretation of doom metal. The classic version filled with grand gestures and a female vocalist that has the power to enchant. The added layer of harsher male vocals from time to time, ensures that every lyrical melody reaches its full potential. Sonic Doom and Epic Sludge they state on their bandcamp and there is a lot of truth in that statement. For the doom involved, although downtuned, seems to grow and billow and constantly move into mushroom cloud proportions. The sludge tones, with overtones of something progressive, droning and equally building towards something larger than the sum of their parts manages to enthrall constantly. They don’t always go for that detonation though, and shying away from the explosion you feel lying in wait, feels like a band that dares to take a different route. Second track Face The North might be one of the best examples for this, opting to include a more fragile guitar line during the middle part and only then when the coldness of that riff has set in does the track move towards a thunderous end, where the double vocals serve as lightning strikes among the crashing drums and booming riffs. They namedrop quite a few bands as influence on their bandcamp site; and those inspirations can definitely be heard here and there. Dool is another one that is not named but can certainly be felt. And when you follow that amazing Face The North song with the incredibly strong Age Of Obsidian track you cannot but help fall in love with Mould and their Pull & Repulsion debut. The musical push and pull, like waves, like tides in that one track seems to define what Mould meant to achieve with their debut album. They focus on the dark, the shadow, the cold and the weariness, but show you there’s always that other side, that spark of light, ice that reflects and a sun that manages to reach even the deepest recesses of the cave. Pull & Repulsion is one hell of a debut, one that seems to flourish in the shade and grow with every bone chilling listening session.

(Written by JK)

Bandcamp

Facebook

Homepage

Instagram

Polderrecords