Ruff Majik – Moth Eater (The Lorekeeper’s Bible)
Sound of Liberation Records – 2024
Rock, Punk, Stoner, Psych, Garage, Sludge
Rated: *****
A pigeon was fluttering and flailing over my head as I was contemplating the name of the band. It might be one of the best names ever chosen. Or it might be a case of manifestation. Whatever it is, magic surrounds the South African four. Not the faerie dust kind of magic, but the stuff of rock ‘n roll legends. Of coincidences to huge to comprehend and of weirdness that rolls out in front of them like a huge carpet. A red carpet. A magic carpet. So, I shot the pigeon. I shot the pigeon by accident though, I’m not a murderous individual, I stumbled and the .357 fell out of my hands. A happy accident, for it was a carrying pigeon straight out of South Africa. Bringing me the news, the lowdown and all the happiness that will explode in October. It brought me the new Moth Eater album by the South African four manifesting itself throughout the globe as Ruff Majik! In fact... It explodes today!
It's called Moth Eater and reflects once again on times passed. Not just from when founder, vocalist and guitar player Johni Holiday was a young kid, ate a moth and almost suffocated. But more importantly about the past years. Together with Devil’s Cattle from 2020 and Elektrik Ram from 2022 it documents trials and tribulations, adventures and memories of nights that might actually never have happened. Part history for the singer and part of what the band has gone through. It marks the end of the trilogy, well, sort off. A trilogy that opened up the sound for Ruff Majik with that Devil’s Cattle album, showed even more possibilities sound wise and lyrical wise with Elektrik Ram and actually offered a glimpse into what could be. Cause after Elektrik Ram everything would be up for grabs! And Moth Eater is that and more: more of everything.
It's full. Chuck full. To the brink of explosion. The dialing tone (Oh how I love Chemically Humanized from Elektrik Ram and how I love the end of that album and thus the start of this one.) The voicemail message, the brutish South African promoter threatening to make sure the band never plays another show again. The subdued drums promising ruckus, the extra round of riffs before it… finally comes… Explosion! It’s the perfect opener. What A Time To Be A Knife, already released as a single, featuring additional screams by Reegan du Buisson from Facing The Gallows sits there almost as a twin brother to the opener from Elektrik Ram. Except that this time they do not recount dubious memories, but harsh realities and how they will deal with them if they come across those ‘fucking clowns’. There is one more twin on the album, or so it seems. Ending title track Moth Eater has on some level the same energy as Chemically Humanized. And once again sporting stunning lyrics. Especially that second verse starting with, ‘Oh no, have you heard the news, the sky is falling, many years too soon…” If you weren’t feeling them goosebumps before you will now.
Transitioning into another voicemail, where you can hear some 'dingbat' (grin) calling in and promising to deliver the goods or meeting up at some time somewhere before second track Dirt And Deer Blood begins. The lyrics are once again off the chart, as is his manner of uttering them, it drives the song into a frenzied hallucinations of bar scenes at the very end of the night. Out of your depth and exactly where you are meant to be. It’s dirty, just like the groove and the way the drums push every second of this track as much as the vocals. Talking about frenzy! By The Hammer is most freakishly chaotic and rumbling track you will hear this year, pulling earlobes and punching your tympanic membrane, making you dizzy and stumbling around, trying to leave the impression that you are actually dancing. The perfect time for a slower track, darker and ominous, and as the wind howls outside you are listening to We’re Not Out Of The Swamp Yet. Brilliantly delivered, with a low hum constantly present and a Johni Holiday going as low as possible. Doubling himself as the song rolls on. So much of the vocalization and minute details become audible as you continue to spin the record, there seems to be even more of it than on Elektrik Ram. Battering Lamb, on so many levels a straight forward rocker, but then you start hearing all the different layers, the vocal touches, the ringing extra melody, the whoo! O’ and let’s not forget this wonderful sentence: “oh honey, you should’ve seen me in my prime, I could have made it, I just didn’t have the time.”
Cult Eyes features Arvid Hällagård from Greenleaf as second vocalist. A bluesy stonerrock track that’s all filled with this bop and bounce attitude, that keeps you glued to the groove, bopping along like a cartoon character with a way too long neck, trying to sing with them and going extra hard on the melody. The bass work, so aloof, almost jazzy and so possessed of the natural progression the track needs. Which again seems to be front at center when following track Baby’s First Guillotine rolls around. Slowly building this ruined landscape of riffs and lines, guitars gradually taking over to color in the painting, while the drums sneak in these twisted fills and tension moments. The percussion is another aspect of Moth Eater that just seems to so pristine in its execution, just listen to following track Ingozi featuring the enigmatic Lerato. Funk infused, it’s not yet the ‘slunk’ record or ‘fudge’ song they would love to produce one day, although it does thunder towards more noise in the end, it’s too clear and pronounced. And that jazzy copper work, brilliant touch. Wasted Youth is the last single that came out, glorifying their vocal harmonies by giving them every bit of attention. But not before you have an almost tekno repetition at two thirds of the track. The lyrics can be as depressive as they come, but there’s a tone of acceptance in them. And that doubles when world shattering final track Moth Eater comes around, musically and lyrically, (which I already mentioned). And those earlier mentioned goosebumps might double with those final lines… From ‘closing the book’ till ‘I feel fine’… It’s been a while…
I fell in love with so many of Elektrik Ram. In fact, I fell in love with everything. And now I’ve gone and done that again. For Moth Eater has everything.
(Written by JK)
Way too many words with and about Ruff Majik
Review of Elektrik Ram
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Mongrel Records
Touring Europe this month!
And they will also play Into The Void Festival tomorrow in Leeuwaarden, Netherlands!
