Mo’ynoq – A Place for Ash
Release Date: 23rd September 2022
Label: Self Released
Bandcamp
Genre: Black Metal
FFO: Mgla, Krallice, Immortal.
Review By: The Wayfaerer
Hailing from Raleigh, North Carolina comes a band that has a rather unusual naming convention. While most Black Metal bands chose names that tend to evoke images of the demonic or occult, Mo’ynoq takes their name from an obscure Uzbekistanian town which has fallen on hard times due to the recession of the Aral Sea. It seems to be appropriate given the nature of the band’s discography. Formed in 2016 by bassist Devin Janus, drummer Justin Valletta, and guitarists Don Boyd and Logan Holloway, Mo’ynoq embraces the black metal traditions of solitude, death, and despair on their sophomore album, A Place For Ash.
Penance opens the album up with ferocious screams and a breakneck pace of percussion and tremolo guitar riffs that slams you in the face right away. Janus, Boyd, and Holloway all split vocal duties for this record, and they all do a fantastic job. High-pitched wails that echo long into the distance, making it sound like a wail from a deceased corpse. The atmosphere in general is well maintained throughout the entire album, with a deathly gloom and a cold, wailing despair permeating every track. It really gives the impression of being trapped in a cold, dark mausoleum with the ghosts of the dead screaming at you. Throes of Ardent Disposition keeps the momentum up, with more unceasing drumbeats and scything guitar riffs that can shred your very soul. Effigies Adorned in Fire follows, and it’s here where Mo’ynoq explore their more melodic side, with the riffs forming a soaring, yet soothing tone meant to convey feelings of loss and despair. Shifting gears a bit, Synchromysticism slows the pace down a bit but continues the melodic undertones with guitar riffs that alternate between highs and lows as if it was a hawk soaring from the highest mountains and down to the lowest valleys before coming to a place to rest. The Beast That Mourned At The Heart Of The Mountain caps off the album with a nearly twelve minute runtime. It is here that the full dynamic range of Mo’ynoq can be felt. The culmination of everything the previous songs had provided is included here, harsh, grating screams, screeching and melodic riffs with crushing drums. A fitting end to bookmark their sophomore album.
As for criticisms, well I do have a few. The album is only five songs long, but it lasts for over forty minutes. Not one song is under six minutes, when a few of them should be. Penance and Throes of Ardent Disposition tended to drag for longer than they needed, to the point where it was a slog to get through them. They could’ve been much tighter if they had two or more minutes cut. While The Beast That Mourned At The Heart of the Mountain is certainly the centerpiece of the album, the intro lasts for three full minutes. Again, it could’ve cut down to just over a minute and the song wouldn’t lose any momentum. I feel like there’s too much bloat on this album to consider it a masterpiece, but as a sophomore album, it gets the job done quite well.
(3 / 5)
