THE MOTH: The Obelisk Streams Entire Fourth Album By German Doom/Sludge Metal Trio, Frost, Ahead Of Its Release This Friday Through Exile On Mainstream + Tour Dates Begin

photos by José Lorenzo & Cécile Ash

“…maybe the whole thing is magic.” – The Obelisk

The Obelisk today presents an exclusive stream of Frost, the infectious fourth LP from German doom/sludge metal trio THE MOTH, ahead of its release tomorrow through Exile On Mainstream.

Founded in 2012, the feedback on THE MOTH’s first album They Fall was already quite enthusiastic. Right from the start, the band presented themselves as an international band that drew fans all over the world, from Tokyo to Vancouver. Between festival appearances at the Desertfests in London and Berlin, Stoned From The Underground, the Svart Festival Oslo, the Doom Over Vienna, and the Riff Mass Brighton, two more albums were released in 2015 with And Then Rise and 2017 Hysteria. On accompanying tours and shows throughout Europe and the UK with, among others, Treedeon, Conan, Eyehategod, Crowbar, Torche, and Red Fang, THE MOTH left enthusiastic fans behind.

After three albums on This Charming Man, THE MOTH now presents their Exile On Mainstream debut with Frost. Having honed their no-nonsense approach to sludge/doom metal on numerous tours and gigs, the band’s songs are virtually void of frills, instead opting to turn out hammer heavy drums and riff-heavy rock as brutal as it is bewitching. Since their acclaimed debut They Fall in 2013, the Hamburg trio has regularly delivered tracks with a catchiness that is surprising for the genre.

THE MOTH takes their approach to new heights with, Frost. Catchy lines get stuck in the listener’s heart and mind like a dislodged meat hook, explaining why the band calls their style doom-sludge pop – “Kim Wilde-meets-Bolt Thrower” – or like a review for the 2017 album Hysteria put it: “pop music played with a bulldozer.” Lyrically, however, THE MOTH shows 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. Bassist/vocalist Cécile Ash, guitarist/vocalist Freden Mohrdiek, and drummer Curry Korr perform the dichotomy with a high recognition value. Boring riff hum and mantric stoner-esque repetition are not their thing.

Frost was recorded live in only 24 hours, the album recorded and mixed by José Lorenzo at Bombrec Recording, and then mastered by Timo Höcke at Die Wellenschmiede, and completed with artwork by Sarah Breen and layout by Cécile Ash. Emma Billingham and Emily Yardley provide additional vocals on “In The City.”

With the stream of Frost, THE MOTH has provided a track-by-track breakdown of each song on the LP The Obelisk writes within their expansive review of the record, “Maybe THE MOTH sit and planned all this out before they hit the studio, or maybe the whole thing is magic. It matters only academically. What’s more relevant in terms of the listening experience is that Frost was tracked live, in a day. It is a band-showed-up-and-played record, and part of its sonic appeal comes from that. I used the word ‘raw’ above to describe the tones and I’ll stand by it, but it’s worth highlighting that while much of Frost can indeed be barebones from a production standpoint, the material neither sounds opaque nor difficult to engage… THE MOTH continue their progressive trajectory in these songs and meet the span of years it’s been since their last offering with head-on force of craft and delivery.”

Stream THE MOTH’s captivating Frost in its entirety first only at The Obelisk RIGHT HERE.

Frost will be released this Friday, September 22nd digitally and on 140-gram pure virgin Black Vinyl including a bundled CD. Place orders at the Exile On Mainstream webshop HERE and digital at Bandcamp HERE, and watch the videos for “Dust” HERE and “Battlefield” HERE.

In conjunction with the album’s release, THE MOTH will launch a string of release dates including shows with Thronehammer and labelmates Treedeon. See all confirmed shows below, and watch for more to be posted shortly.

THE MOTH Record Release Shows:
9/22/2023 Störtebecker – Hamburg, DE w/ Treedeon
10/03/2023 Alte Meierei – Kiel, DE w/ Thronehammer
10/04/2023 Fundbureau – Hamburg, DE w/ Thronehammer
10/05/2023 MTC – Cologne, DE w/ Thronehammer
10/06/2023 Immerhin – Wuerzburg, DE
10/07/2023 Keep It Low Festival – Munich, DE
11/17/2023 Thav – Hildesheim, DE w/ with Shakhtyor
11/18/2023 Die Trompete – Bochum, DE w/ Treedeon

https://the-moth.bandcamp.com
https://www.instagram.com/listentoTHEMOTH
https://www.facebook.com/listentoTHEMOTH
https://www.youtube.com/user/listentoTHEMOTH
http://www.mainstreamrecords.de
https://www.youtube.com/@exileonmainstream3639

The post THE MOTH: The Obelisk Streams Entire Fourth Album By German Doom/Sludge Metal Trio, Frost, Ahead Of Its Release This Friday Through Exile On Mainstream + Tour Dates Begin first appeared on Earsplit Compound.