TIME & WITHERING

This is the debut album of MOUTH OF THE ARCHITECT, released in 2004. The bet for this Ohio-based USA band is to impress not only with their (rather intriguing) name but also with the music. They achieve in both.

MotA can be readily ''categorised'' in the ever-developing genre of post-metal. They mainly incorporate sludge and doom elements in their sound, while their tracks are relatively long, often surpassing the 10-minute mark. In this debut, there are just 4 compositions, with three of them ticking about 11-12 minutes long. The tempos followed in this album are very slow - ''creeping'' would probably be the right description.

As many bands in the post-sludge movement, MotA employ semi-brutal, scream-like vocals that blend nicely with the often chaotic character of their riffs. A few samples accompany their sound, but the use of keyboards is rather limited, leaving the leading role to either tuned-down distorted or clean electric guitars. Apart from the noticeably heavy doom passages (fans of doom will recognise Sabbath and Cathedral-like riffs), there is a more melodic aspect in their music that often interchanges with the heavier parts. This is particularly apparent in A Vivid Chaos and The Worm, in my opinion, the best tracks of this debut.

The more melodic parts often bring in mind bands like ISIS and related from the post-metal genre. The successful blend of doom-like compositions with solid melodic forms is the reason that I regard this debut as highly promising and makes me look further into their discography and bands with similar sound. Not everything sounds original and ground-breaking but surely fans of post-sludge metal will appreciate this recording more than me.

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