Mumuksu/Iravu are both solo acts from Malaysia. The latter plays black metal, and the former doom.
I thoroughly enjoyed Iravu’s debut album from last year – A Fate Worse Than Home – so knew I wanted to check out this split. It contains three tracks and has a total duration of 55 minutes. The first two songs are by the individual artists, and the final is a collaboration between them both.
We start with Mumuksu’s song – Beneath My Cold Dark Skin Lies a Freedom You Will Never Own, which sprawls across 18 minutes with enthralling dark grace. The song reveals itself to be a nightmarish slab of cold, grim doom, one that I take to immediately.
Beginning with a droning riff with the sounds of the oncoming apocalypse gathering behind it, the song instantly establishes a dark, hopeless atmosphere that’s captivating. I wasn’t expecting clean vocals, but we get them, and they’re very good, (other styles also appear, equally well-performed). Both the singing and the instruments create a pervading atmosphere of dread and loss, yet with just enough light to allow for the whisper of hope. The artist behind Mumusku is adept at the portrayal of emotion, elevating the song above a simple dirge.
Imagine a darker, drawn-out, droning version of bands like Pallbearer, Warning/40 Watt Sun, or Yob, and you’ll have a rough idea of what to expect here. Atmospheric, nuanced, and filled with sad feelings and forlorn woe, this is a powerful piece. This is my first experience of Mumusku’s music, but it won’t be my last, that’s for sure. More please!
After that it’s Iravu’s turn, with The Outsider; 14 minutes of expressive black metal to feast on.
The track slithers into existence on a sea of dark ambience, dragging scattered words along in its wake. Then comes the tense melody, adding another layer of feeling to the rich primordial soup. It’s a gradual build up than eventually explodes into cosmic violence and sharp blackened aggression. Fast, merciless, and with serrated screams that lash out from the fanged distortion, it’s a shot of venomous adrenaline after Mumusku’s glacial immersion. It works well as a counterpoint, but also in its own right. It’s not all aggression though, as there’s a strong atmospheric component, especially from the mid-point onward. The song is well-crafted, and it moves between its various sections seamlessly.
The artist behind Iravu clearly knows how to write a compelling modern black metal song, and if The Outsider is any indication, Iravu’s strongest work may yet be still to come.
The final song is the colossal title track, which sees Iravu and Mumusku combining their powers to produce a 24-minute blackened doom odyssey.
Opening with a swirling ambience, the song unfolds with a doom-drenched inevitability that sounds like the foreshadowing of the end of worlds. The mournful clean singing is back from Mumusku, and the atmosphere is cloaked in darkness. That’s the first seven minutes. After this comes raging black metal; fast and harsh, yet still carrying with it a sorrow-soaked vibe that’s very effective. When it slows, the atmosphere is pushed to the fore even further, to good effect.
The next phase of the song is highly textured, with clean vocals sailing atop a turbulent sea of drums and bass. The guitar comes in eventually, bringing with it an effective transition to a rich blackened landscape. Approximately five minutes from the end we are treated to the sort of sparse doom minimalism that Bell Witch do so well. It’s a successful way to end such a mammoth track.
What a thoroughly enjoyable release. This is 55 minutes of quality rewarding material, with its two foundational styles complementing each other well. Both artists are skilled in their areas, and when combined enrich each other’s offering.
Don’t miss out on this underground gem.
Wonderbox Metal 