HANGING GARDEN — Neither Moth nor Rust (review)

HANGING GARDEN — Neither Moth nor Rust album cover

EP · 2022 · Gothic Metal

3/5 · 2022-03-10
siLLy puPPy

Cited as Finland’s answer to Sweden’s Katatonia, HANGING GARDEN also started out as a typical death doom metal band having formed in 2004 in the city of Mikkeli but just like Katatonia grew restless in its musical comfort zone and quickly expanded its palette to include all kinds of metal influences including the world of sludge and post-metal but more importantly a heavy addition from the world of gothic metal, where for the most part, the death and doom have all but left the scene altogether but HANGING GARDEN has never really abandoned those early sounds completely and continues to crank out a series of albums and EPs.

So far the band has released seven full-length albums and six EPs which includes this latest NEITHER MOTH NOR RUST fresh out in early 2022 a mere nine months after the last album “Skeleton Lake.” Like many metal bands, HANGING GARDEN keeps its experimental touches on a leash for its bonafide albums but releases these EPs to take those musical detours that don’t quite jive with the established sound spectrum of their making. This lil shorty features six tracks that only add up to just over 25 minutes of playing time but showcases the band’s flirtation with various non-metal genres including post-rock, dream pop, Finnish folk music and atmospheric ambience.

In fact, this EP isn’t consistently metal at all with tracks like “And Leave All Love Behind” sounding more like an indie folk track and “The Raven Portrait” merely cranking out a mysterious sounding piano piece with symphonic touches. While death doom moments occur, when the metal comes into play it’s clearly in the gothic playbook and not in the Type O Negative or Moonspell sorta way but more akin to The Gathering or Lacuna Coil world with a mix of male and female vocals, lugubrious atmospheric backdrops and rather straight forward alternative metal guitar riffs. Probably the most authentically goth of these tracks is “On The Shore Of Eternity” but all tracks resonate in the dark mysterious goth universe even if instrumentation varies.

The My Dying Bride influences of their past still find their way into the mix as well with the soul piercing moments of violin making their way into the mix. Unfortunately the EP ends on a bad note with the oddball “Field Of Reeds” sounding like a dance mix with programmed drums and an overly poppy upbeat demeanor despite the attempts of the piano roll to lower the mood setting. On this one death growls are kept to a minimum and clean male / female lyrical deliveries rule. The main emphasis of the piano accompanied by ominous atmospheric backdrops is the common denominator.

I’m not overly familiar with this band but i can’t say NEITHER MOTH NOR RUST is an EP that would lead anyone to further explore this band’s past canon however we must always keep in mind when delving into the side world of EPs that in the modern era, these shorter releases are meant to be explored outside of the band’s “official” context of whatever style they have developed. Basically this one sounds like a bunch of leftover tracks that didn’t quite make the cut for other albums. Nothing on here is bad but on the flip side of things nothing here is memorable either. The tension between the darkened goth aspects and the more cheerful pop elements finds the melodic touches winning out. Not quite goth enough for my tastes but as a goth pop rock release it’s not at all a horrible listen.