Jex Thoth - Blood Moon Rise - review
Jex Thoth - Blood Moon Rise - review
Tracklist
01. To Bury02. The Places You Walk
03. The Divide
04. Into A Sleep
05. And The River Ran Dry
06. Keep Your Weeds
07. Ehjä
08. The Four Of Us Are Dying [feat. JD Guy]
09. Psyar
A review by
Auntie Sahar July 17, 2013
Female-fronted psychedelic doom metal! That in itself should be enough of an alluring quality to pique interest in this release (*wink wink* male readers). The vocalist from whom the band takes its name almost comes across as a 21st century Grace Slick, with a beautiful voice that can stretch from quietly tender ("Into A Sleep," "Keep Your Weeds") to more energetic and pulsating, following along to the groove the tracks lay down ("The Places You Walk," "Ehjä"). In addition, Jex Thoth manage to blend the psychedelic and doom elements on Blood Moon Rise quite well, to a point that at many times it gets difficult to discern the former from the latter. There are heavy, "thick" tracks with unquestionable doom elements ("The Divide," "The Four Of Us Are Dying"), yet also ones that are more surreal and dreamlike ("Into a Sleep," "Psyar"), in an ode of sorts to classic psychedelia.
One of the best features of Blood Moon Rise, however, has to be in the spacing out of the track lengths. As one can see upon looking at their durations, there's a very nice balance of short and long tracks, much like a lot of classic psychedelic rock albums (Are You Experienced?, Electric Music For The Mind And Body, etc). Not only does Jex Thoth doing this somewhat reinforce their homage to the older bands within their style, but it also provides the listener with the choice of a quick and easy listen with the shorter tracks, or a more reflective, trippy experience with the longer ones, which is a clever approach.
For what it is, Blood Moon Rise is an excellent release, and quite a worthy contribution to the growing influence of psychedelia within the modern metal scene. But for some reason, it falls short in originality, and comes across as though Jex Thoth could have pushed themselves further in that direction. Much like the thrash revival bands, Jex Thoth have a lot of energy and great songwriting behind them, but their formula, as good as it is, is really nothing all that new. So, in short, if you're looking for the usual creatively schizophrenic music I recommend, you won't find it with Blood Moon Rise. But nevertheless, the album is a great release, and one that should definitely not go overlooked by any serious doom or psychedelic fan.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 8 |
| Songwriting: | 7 |
| Originality: | 7 |
| Production: | 8 |
Written by Auntie Sahar | July 17, 2013
Comments
Comments:
14
Visited by
171 users
 Posts: 6941 |
Posts: 6941
Two words: Grace Slick. Aaaand I will be listening to this post-haste 
---- "A life all mine Is what I choose At the end of my days" --The Gathering "A Life All Mine" from Souvenirs
Loading...
|
 Posts: 9575 |
Posts: 9575
Glad to see the Electric Moon love.
Loading...
|
 Posts: 5989 |
Posts: 5989 Written by Boxcar Willy on 17.07.2013 at 04:55 Hell yeah man, they're awesome. The Re-Stoned and The Cosmic Dead too, there have been quite a few great bands lately emerging within that general psychedelic/space rock style.
---- I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go. ~ II. VII
Loading...
|
 Posts: 15360 |
Posts: 15360
Will check it out but was not super thrilled with their last when i reviewed it...
---- get the fuck off my lawn. Beer Bug Virus Spotify Playlist crafted by Nikarg and I. Feel free to tune in and add some pertinent metal tunes!
Loading...
|
| mz
Account deleted |
mz
Account deleted
I was thinking about making a topic the other day and asking for psychedelic metal recommendations. You made my day sir
Loading...
|
|
Posts: 508  |
Loading...
|
|
Posts: 702  |
Posts: 702
Low rating, if you ask me. It's a great album, even if I'm not a big fan of the genre...
Loading...
|
| Posts: 5989 |
Posts: 5989 Written by Merchant of Doom on 18.07.2013 at 00:27 I rate albums (that conventional enough to be bound by ratings) based primarily on how much originality and effort I feel went into the music, but mainly the original part. As I said in the review, Blood Moon Rise is a great delivery, but the formula isn't anything all that new, and not as effective as it could've been. Personally, I thought the music could've gone great with some hammond organ and a few acoustic tracks, and more bass would've been interesting too. But that's just my opinion, of course.
---- I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go. ~ II. VII
Loading...
|
| !J.O.O.E.!
Account deleted |
|
|
Posts: 751 |
|
 Posts: 5548 |
Posts: 5548
I found this to be a semi-decent release that doesn't live long in the memory. It wasn't bad, infact there is some obvious talent in the band but the album as a whole just comes across as a bit pretentious & uninspired.
---- "FUCK!!! You're the fucking 5th person asking me in an interview about the woman in the bathtub?The problem is that I AM the fucking person in the bathtub, and I AM a fucking MAN, for fuck's sake! I hate you all!" ~ Herr Morbid
Loading...
|
|
Posts: 702 |
Posts: 702 Written by Auntie Sahar on 18.07.2013 at 02:02 fair enough... 
Loading...
|
 Posts: 18615 |
Posts: 18615 Written by Auntie Sahar on 18.07.2013 at 02:02 I can already imagine the red numbers for old school death metal bands even if they are doing it well. 
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
Loading...
|
| Posts: 5989 |
Posts: 5989 Written by X-Ray Rod on 25.07.2013 at 18:53 Not really, because at that time, since death metal was relatively in its infancy, a lot of effort and originality did go into the music. These days most modern bands just feel like cookie cutter Cannibal Corpse clones. The only more recent death metal bands today that I really enjoy are Portal, Xanthorchoid, Be'lakor, and Psilocybe Larvae. Plus Evoken and Esoteric, if you wanna consider them death metal.
---- I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go. ~ II. VII
Loading...
|
Hits total: 15031 | This month: 4