My eye had been on Rorcal for a while before the writing of this review. The cover of this album, Muladona, with its mysterious, tattoo-looking horse, was oddly alluring, and made me pretty curious about what sounds could lie within. But the announcement that the band would be playing at this year's esteemed Roadburn Festival was the catalyst that made me finally pull the trigger on listening. I'm damn glad I did. Muladona features some of the outright nastiest jamz I've heard in a minute, a filthy, hard hitting blend of black metal, sludge, and industrial. While the opening track is more of a droning, hypnotizing ambient number (set over a long audio sample, bonus points to whoever can tell me where it comes from), it's a bit deceptive as to what the rest of the package entails. From there, a plodding sound somewhat akin to a slower Dragged Into Sunlight dominates: a sludgey foundation embellished by black metal riffing, dark electronic ambiance, and piercing shrieks.
Muladona alternates between its three primary ingredients (sludge, black, and industrial) fairly well, for quite a pleasing, diverse listening experience. One second the tempo may be considerably restrained, with the band content to hammer along with a more crushing, doomier approach, and the next it may increase significantly into more furious blast beats and black metal riffage, as towards the end of "She Drained You Of Your Innocence." At other points the opposite may happen, where initial bursts of violence may eventually be toned down a notch into downtempo sequences of more lulling sludge and industrial wanderings. As Muladona clearly demonstrates, Rorcal are a band thankfully not content to sit too idly on any one approach for too long, and the variation in their delivery makes for quite an enjoyable listen. The only real fault I can find with Muladona is that the bass isn't quite as audible in the mix as I would've liked, but overall this is a pretty minor complaint.
Muladona is my first time crossing paths with Rorcal, but it's certainly left a powerful impression, and will quite likely lead to me investigating their four prior albums as well. Tightly composed, well paced, and heavy in every sense of the word, I may have come about 4 months late to the Muladona party, but I'm happy I came regardless. Don't let this one fall into obscurity, as these guys definitely deserve more attention.
Begin the assault.
