- As Raime, Tom Halstead and Joe Andrews honed a doom-laden aesthetic that culminated in their first LP, Quarter Turns Over A Living Line. Their side-project Moin debuted anonymously on a split 7-inch with Pete Swanson on Confessions Series, an offshoot of Blackest Ever Black. That one sounded, well, like Raime but with added live instruments, but here they refine that sound. Their debut EP retains their trademark oppressive and alien qualities, but swaps enigmatic spookiness for a raw post-punk energy .
"Murphy" opens with a sludgy, Earth-indebted bassline and heavily reverberated guitars. It's as funereal as ever, but the live drums set it apart from the minimalism and sharp surfaces of Raime. "Stacie" pits an alien vocal sample against squalls of feedback and dry toms. They save the heaviest for last with "Clancy." It has a massive riff cloaked in layers of feedback and distortion, with drowsy bass and frenetic drums adding even more weight.
The Moin EP and releases from crust punk/black metal outfit Raspberry Bulbs and Peter Rehberg's band Shampoo Boy seem to herald a less electronic-oriented direction for Blackest Ever Black. The records may not all be as original as, say, the Raime EP, but they're all fantastically executed, and provide a welcome shock to the system.
Tracklist A1 Murphy
A2 Stacie
B Clancy