Sometimes you pick the promo; sometimes the promo picks you.  When you name your band Moose Cult, you have my curiosity.  When your music is sold to me as a combination of traditional heavy metal and deathdoom, now you have my attention.  And when you round it out with a track called “Moose Cult” by the band Moose Cult off the album Moose Cult, I am powerless to look away.  Every once in a while you need to take some of the piss out of heavy metal, and with many of the releases I’ve been diving into being really soul-crushing, I’m excited to explore this.

Moose Cult describe their debut album as a “thrilling musical journey” and a “unique sonic universe,” equally influenced by Obituary and Judas Priest and a tribute to true heavy metal in spirit and sound.  But really, how much more innovation is there to be found in traditional heavy metal and deathdoom?  I guess you could argue “not much,” and I’d disagree with you in general, although Moose Cult doesn’t spend a whole lot of time rewriting the playbook.  Instead, it does exactly what it should do: it takes the best qualities of its influences and mashes them together into something that might not be greater than the sum of its parts but is a whole goddamn lot of fun to listen to.  Not only is it full of big energy riffs and gnarly leads, but it also has a really tight sound to it, thanks in no small part to the mastering by the inimitable Dan Swanö.  Led by vocalist and guitarist Jonny Moose, Moose Cult stampedes through seven tracks tangentially exploring themes of environmentalism and communion with nature, each showcasing a different facet of their influences and sound, with some leaning more in the trad metal direction, some going straight death metal and others exploring more atmospheric, borderline (or not borderline) stoner doom.

One thing that is immediately apparent upon first listen to Moose Cult is that this thing is a ton of fun.  The eponymous title track rips straight into doomy sludge pierced by Moose’s Rob-Halford-meets-Ronnie-James-Dio shriek, opining the supremacy of the titular cult of meece (mooses? moosi?) over all.  The riffs are big and chunky, the leads are righteous and tasty, and even though the song ends up venturing out into more spacey territory, there is always something there to pull you back to center, be it a growl or a shriek, a wail or a chug or a drum or bass fill.  This thing really doesn’t stop once it gets started, and each track does, in fact, do a good job of highlighting one particular facet of their sound.  “Dire Logic” is the most overt death metal track on the release, growling and blasting its way through meaty riffs and pounding drums, in and out before you can even register what happened to you.  Wherever Moose Cult goes, every song tells a complete story; none of the twists and turns feel out of place, and every part and piece has its moment to shine (I REALLY love the bass performance from Mr. Huge Cult on pretty much every track), inside and between each track.  Moose Cult is just a really good time on every level, one that is almost surprising since it is coming practically out of nowhere for me.

Sometimes when you take a chance, you end up getting a lot more than you bargained for, and in the case of Moose Cult, that’s a very good thing.  I very much doubt I’ll forget about this band.  With a name like Moose Cult, it’d be a very hard thing to do, so the next time their name pops up on our promo list, there will be no hesitation from me.

— Ian

---

Moose Cult is available now on the band’s Bandcamp page.  For more information on Moose Cult, take a long walk in your local forest and breathe deep of the fresh air, or I guess you can go to the previously linked Bandcamp page instead.