West coast underground darlings Bloodmoon have started to become active once more after a long period of quiet. In 2017 they dropped one of my favorite records of the year, a split with the titanic Trapped Within Burning Machinery. The bands full length output before this, two potent releases, Orenda and Voidbound saw the group shift from intelligent black metal to a much more esoteric form of doom that never forgot the bands harsher roots. Now we sit with a brand new Bloodmoon release, coming out to coincide with, appropriately enough, today's super blue blood moon. their unique brand of phased out doom metal, with all sorts of jazz influences tossed in alongside elements of death and black metal makes for a band who you can't help but to love, and in fact a band who will make you ask 'Why aren't these guys bigger?' they have the sort of mammoth push behind them that you can't easily wrap your head around and the sort of ethereal majesty that defines similar bands like Yob and Ufomammut.
Unlike many of their peers on the West coast doom scene though, Bloodmoon don't try and ape their heroes, rather they are gleefully, proudly individualistic. they play by their own rules, and though their music may at times feel jam centric there also is a sense of tightness here that a lot of modern doom lacks. The atmospheres are built for a reason and the compositions are laid out in a way that you feel like everything about this record is an epic and tear jerking journey. This is an album that carries you up on twisted broken wings and then drags you into the darkest of hells. It's mystical and weird, sort of a document of a scene that, if it gets the attention it deserves, is almost guaranteed to carry this group into stardom, or at least out of obscurity.
Get the record here: https://bloodmoonslo.bandcamp.com/
