Black Moon Mother – Illusions Under the Sun
Digital Release Date: Out Now
Physical Release Date: 4th June 2021
Label: Petrichor
Bandcamp
Pre-Order
Genre: Doom, Shoegaze.
FFO: Chelsea Wolfe, Windhand, Black Sabbath.
Review By: Lucas Di Mascio
While Chelsea Wolfe brings the darkness to the Shoegaze/Doom subgenre I find that Black Moon Mother brings the vibes. Everything from their visual aesthetics, merch, and overall sound has a very “vaporwave” tinge to it. Faded photographs, washed out colours, and lo-fi textures all go hand in hand with this band. It’s hard to find a track to dislike on this album, but metalheads should be warned that this isn’t the typical doom metal they’ve been raised on. Like Chelsea Wolfe, Black Moon Mother takes aspects from the metal genre and turns them into a sound of their own- at times the songs could be considered pop, rock- even indie, but things are undeniably “heavier” atmospherically than those “lighter” genres of music. It’s hard to not compare them to Chelsea Wolfe, this isn’t to say they sound similar, Black Moon Mother has their own sound for sure. It’s simply because I don’t think there is a true genre term for the kind of music these artists are making- it’s not quite Doom, it’s not quite Shoegaze, but it’s definitely of interest to more open-minded music listeners that have an appreciation for heavy music and music production.
This is the band’s second release and while I hadn’t heard of them until Illusions Under the Sun came to my attention, I’m very interested in seeing where the band goes from here. The production is just so rich in textures and details that I feel I could listen to the same song a dozen or so times and still find something new in there to appreciate. Heavily affected guitars that almost sound synthlike (like in the song Slow Down) are utilized to great effect, and at times remind me of some of the production elements Type O Negative used in October Rust. The mix is great and is interesting across each song- nothing feels quite the same. The album really feels like you are going on a journey led by the band’s instrumentations. It’s just experimental enough without being distracting or too offputting. Brianne O’Neill has a voice reminiscent of female rock singers of the 70’s but still wholly her own- and while I found her vocals to only be lacking performance-wise in one of the band’s singles (Around the Finger), she’s a fine singer who’s crooning becomes an atmospheric instrument in and of its own in many of the songs, such as in spacey interludes during the albums most upbeat song, Radiant Sun.
While I felt that my journey with Illusions Under the Sun was over just a little too quickly, it just made me want to listen to it multiple times to see if I could hear what else I hadn’t picked up on the first listen. Really immersing yourself into the vibes of this record is a very easy thing to do, and the band should be applauded for creating a piece of art that’s able to do that. I think this is definitely a band to watch and see what they do next, they definitely could appeal to a larger audience with this record and they’d fit right on stage alongside Chelsea Wolfe and her other contemporaries. 
(4.5 / 5)
