Band:	Hog Mountin / Möse
Album:	Möse - Hog Mountin
Style:	Doom metal, Sludge metal
Release date:	2006
A review by:	Lucas

Hog Mountin
01. Harvest Temple
02. 13 Horns
03. Dirt Worshipper

Möse
04. Fistfull Of Broken Nails
05. How To Kill A Pig
06. Atlas Shrugging

Label: PsycheDOOMelic Records
Website: http://www.psycheDOOMelic.com


There are a couple of prerequisites that a split album should abide to. One of them is that the volume at which the songs blast out of your speakers should be at least similar. Somebody misunderstood this, and unfortunately for everyone that was the person sitting behind the knobs. Because of this, the second half of the album, by the Belgian stoners Möse, is much softer than the first part, taken care of by the American Hog Mountin.

First it's show time for Hog Mountain. Their blackened sluggish doom should be a delight for every dark doomhead out there. Massive downtuned riffs with slow, one-note-after-each other solo's like small rays of light that fall down from the darkened heavens. Vocal duties are handled by Judd, and he does it the right way. Filthy and mean, yet this music could have done with even more evil vocals. Something like Senthil should do. But hey, we do not live in a perfect world, so we cannot expect every band to mutilate themselves for vocal recordings, right?

Then, after we have adjusted the volume a bit, Möse speed things up a bit. Varying between middle and slow-paced Stoner riffing, they often remind me of Cathedral. When Klootöör unlocks his throat that resemblance becomes even more obvious. He sounds like a Lee Dorrian trying be angry, but realizes that he actually has a rather enjoyable life, thus can't find the much needed hateful injection of venom. A bit of a pity, this could have done with a some extra aggression.

In regards of split albums being a band battle, Hog Mountin would easily win this, both in terms of musicianship and feeling. Möse proved to be a good runner's up, despite their lack of aggression. So am I giving my heads up for this split? Yes, if you're into sludge/stoner doom, you should definitely give this split a shot. It might hook you up with one or two new, good bands.