Moss / Nadja - Split

Artists: Moss / Nadja
Album: split
Label: Foreshadow Music
Year: 2003

Genre(s)/Style(s): back-room drone-doom

Line-ups:

Moss:
Chris Chantler - Drums
Dominic Finbow - Guitar
Olly Pearson - Vocals

Nadja:
Aidan Baker - Instruments, electronics
Leah Buckareff - Bass, vocals

Tracklisting:
1. Moss - ...Of Flesh and Blood - 9:52
2. Nadja - I Am as Earth - 10:26

Moss and Nadja: two heavyweights of the droning sect of doom metal. If you're familiar even a little bit with this circle of doom, you should recognize Nadja as a prominent figurehead. Moss, on the other hand, are a fairly obscure UK funeral sludge act that hides itself as lichens among some old Welsh ruins, or so I'd imagine.

Moss start off this split with -- you guessed it -- a drone track. It sounds like it was recorded with a shitty tape-recorder then played back over a TV and recorded again. There is absolutely no richness or depth to this track, just a poorly mixed Bunkur knock-off (which is worse, because Bunkur are pretty bad). If there was a riff being played instead of just some slamming chords, it might be more interesting. But alas, the song is just typical strung out quarter notes. There's no building of tension, and no dynamics, which is critical to drone. However, the vocal performance is pretty good, in that tortured black metal sort of way, and, in fact, given the dingy production, making Moss's side of the split into a black metal track doesn't seem like such a bad idea. But as a drone track, it lacks the all-important power and meticulous dynamics that make drone good.

After Moss's 10 minutes snore-fest, Nadja bring their 10-minute behemoth to the table. And shit, is it a step-up. Right off the bat, there's already more going on in Nadja's track than in all of Moss's track. Weird, manipulated snippets of vocals dance around with some delicate guitar notes before some sloppily and awkwardly programmed drums enter the mix and add a really odd feel to the music, as if it was suddenly uneven and tilting, like being on a boat before your sealegs finally grow in. The guitars pick up gradually in volume and distortion before becoming Nadja's quintessential lava-wash of fuzz, while the vocals drift to and fro and the drums start becoming a little more stable and consistent. Again, production is a killer here: Nadja need a full, rich sound, and this back-room recording style doesn't really work for them. The guitars sound weak and feeble, and the drums just sound terrible and completely lacking in attack. Regardless, Nadja prove their worth in the form of slightly experimental shoegaze that is strung out beyond belief, and while this formula is improved upon vastly on future releases, "I Am as Earth" is a cool track (better than Moss's....).

I should note that I am largely unfamiliar with Moss's discography, and from what I understand, the material here isn't exactly representative of their other work. So unless you're a Nadja or Moss completist, this is a pretty forgettable split. You're better off digging the respective bands' more... "legitimate" material. Hell, if you're that much of a Nadja fan, you probably already have Corrasion, which includes a re-recorded version of "I Am as Earth", and don't even need this split.


Verdict: 50% - 30 for Moss, 70 for Nadja...

Try it. (mediafire, 27 MB)