On their debut, which was released in December 2021 and is now available as a repress, MODDER deliver flawless stoner sludge and doom, as known from bands like Bongzilla, Ordos, Conan or Clouds Taste Satanic. Especially here is that it's all instrumental and has a slight Industrial touch to it.
It's hard to believe that this is the debut of the 5 Belgians, because this album sounds worked out down to the smallest detail, there are no lengths and everything fits like one piece.
The first overlength song Mount Frequency starts with industrial sounds before a huge riff rains down on us. Slight psychedelic vibes reminiscent of the aforementioned Cloud Taste Satanic. This is heavy riff worship in a class of its own. Especially the great drumming drives the song forward here.
Wax Rituals starts off a little calmer. The monotonous riff grabs you and develops a slightly oriental melodic touch. An eerie and dark atmosphere builds up through industrial samples and synths. Towards the end it gets even more viscous and slow. Low & slow doom at its best.
Let's continue with Spasm. Less melodic but fairly epic instrumental Doom towards the middle. Modder build up an incredibly dense atmosphere, are varied and still always keep a common thread. Bass and drums build a brutal framework that carries the whole song.
With "When your Bones weren't meant to be" it's really straight to the point. The song builds up slowly here and develops into the fastest and heaviest song of this Album. At 4:30 it even gets a bit thrashy, more metal and less stoner doom, until Modder proves again that they master catchy, gripping melodies perfectly.
After about 30 minutes all the fun is over and you inevitably want to put the needle back to the beginning. The album shouldn't be a minute longer, because that's how it's perfect. no superfluous gimmicks, no lengths, just sludgy doom with lots of stoner vibes and, at the risk of repeating myself, first class drumming.
Modder do everything right on their debut and I'm really excited to see what else we can expect from the guys
-Helge Neumann
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