The Atlas Moth
A Glorified Piece of Blue-Sky
Rating
Style: Psychedelic Doom
Release date: September 21st 2009
 

The Atlas moth (Attacus atlas) is a large saturniid moth found in the tropical and subtropical forests of Southeast Asia, southern China, common across the Malay archipelago, Thailand to Indonesia. In India, Atlas moths are cultivated for their silk in a non-commercial capacity; unlike that produced by the related Silkworm moth (Bombyx mori), Atlas moth silk is secreted as broken strands. This brown, wool-like silk is thought to have greater durability and is known as fagara. Atlas moth cocoons have been employed as purses in Taiwan. Atlas moths are considered to be the largest moths in the world in terms of total wing surface area (upwards of c. 400 square cm or 65 square inches). Their wingspans are also amongst the largest, from 25-30 cm (10-12 inches). Females are appreciably larger and heavier (source Wikipedia).

Whooo, this is not music to listen to with an empty stomach. For me it is even too extreme and too diverse. The sludgy, doomy psychedelic bluesy sometimes chaotic music with strange melodic guitar parts and atmospheric noises is not exactly what I prefer. I can hardly work myself through the album. The vocals change from black metal screeching into more harmonic chants and you either like it or hate it. The bands musical influences come from bands such as Neurosis, Deftones, Mastodon, The Sword and Black Sabbath, but with a very sludgy and massive sound.

If you have gotten very interested by reading the lines above, this might be a real hammer for you and you can probably add 30 points easily. Personally it isn't an album I will put in my CD-player very often as illustrated by my rating. They don't suck musically, in fact they are rather original, just not my thing.


Tracklist
01. A Night in Venus Arms
02. A Glorified Piece of Blue Sky
03. Grey Wolves
04. Our Sun, Our Saviour
05. Extraordinary Claims Require Extraordinary Evidence
06. One Amongst The Wheat Fields
07. Jump Room to Orion
08. ...Leads to a Lifetime on Mercury
Label: Candlelight Records
Distribution: Target (Denmark)
Reviewed by: Reinier de Vries
Date: August 26th 2009
Website: www.myspace.com/theatlasmothband