MOON — Caduceus Chalice (review)

MOON — Caduceus Chalice album cover Album · 2010 · Atmospheric Black Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
2/5 ·
Vehemency
What - this isn’t a Xasthur album? I have to recheck that I’m actually listening to an Australian band named Moon whose debut album Caduceus Chalice was released through Wolfsvuur - known from ’quantity over quality’ principle, if you ask me - earlier this year. Everything is so similar, if not identical, to Xasthur that I’m confused: the same ghostly, dissonant atmosphere, effect-filled vocals and a drum machine are present.

I do find myself enjoying Caduceus Chalice’s ominous atmosphere. As described by the band itself, it is a journey through the underworld, and the album succeeds in it with its multiple layers of instrumentation. Compositionally, however, Moon doesn’t provide anything absolutely interesting, at least anything that Xasthur hasn’t done before. Also, the 18-minute ”Chalice” - from which I find much Elysian Blaze influences, by the way - drags on a bit too long, giving too much emphasis on the power of repetition. The song does get better towards the end when e.g. choirs appear, but is prolonged overall.

Certain moments on ”Monastery” are very good and otherwise the whole Caduceus Chalice is decent, but in the end it doesn’t provide anything that would capture my interest entirely, most likely because of the similarity to the aforementioned band: these dissonant melodies, effected vocals and drums machines are all heard before. Those who are in love with Xasthur’s eerie, dissonant music (and haven’t had enough of that band’s massive discography) might find Caduceus Chalice a worthy investment. Be sure to act quickly, though, this tape seems to be limited to just 100 copies.
Share this review

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Rise of the Black Fang Metalcore
KILLGRAVE
Buy this album from MMA partners
Die for Us Technical Death Metal
WEREWOLVES
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Goblin Sessions Heavy Metal
THEM
Buy this album from MMA partners
Tormenta De Arena Metalcore
VORAGO
Buy this album from MMA partners
Infinite Metalcore
FUTURE GHOST
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

ScapeGoat Official Lyric Video
FIREFLAME
Bosh66· 4 hours ago
Fervence - The Silent Wall
FERVENCE
Bosh66· 4 hours ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us