Random Records with Steve O

MooM

Those of you who are long time followers of the bracket will have noticed two appearances by Israel’s Not On Tour, a rad, laser-fast punk band with some definite hardcore leanings. You can blame both of those bracket entries on me. 2015’s Bad Habits immediately hit me and I snuck it on the bracket at the last moment. So, when last year’s Growing Pains came out, it was high on my list and didn’t disappoint. It was actually one of my favorite records from last year and ended up winning three rounds on the bracket.

But you know what wasn’t eligible for the bracket and equally awesome? Vocalist Sima Brami’s other project, powerviolence band MooM. That’s because those consist of a series of three EPS and a split, which have been deemed ineligible via Phil decree. And since we’re all sitting at home with nothing better to do, let’s take a trip through that collection.

First up is 2015’s First EP, which drops four tracks, varying in length from one minute four seconds to one minute twenty-four seconds. Yeah, let’s blast away. Leadoff “Cages” features some cool blast beats before dropping into a rad sludge groove to wrap up the track. “Ancient Scripts” brings some rad dueling vocals on the low and high end. Sima’s vocals have a much rougher edge to them than anything from Not On Tour, a higher pitched bark that contrasts great with the lower growls here and on “Fate.” Honestly, it kind of reminds me of what Nasum was doing with the vocal pairings. “Ancient Scripts” feels especially like a product of location – calling out the patriarchal structure of the Holy Land religions that wield such an overwhelming influence on the region.

The following year we get the even shorter, obvious follow up, Second EP. Here we don’t get any longer than leadoff “Pigooey Dkiroth,” with a run time of one minute six seconds. Again, MooM plays with pace wonderfully, leaning into a grimy, sludge vibe. It’s impressive the way they can mix in such diversity into such short auditory bludgeoning. “The Nature of Death and the Death of Nature” even adds in some rad, technical riffing in it’s closing seconds. If you’re unfamiliar with this kind of music, it all sounds like an unintelligible wall of noise. Both “Pigooey Dkiroth” and “Ze Lo Haim” steer even further into that chaos with lyrics in Hebrew. It’s pretty damn awesome. The foreign tongue makes this music sound even dirtier, the growls and barks sound more menacing, more torturous.

We get a year off before 2018’s Third EP, during which MooM has apparently learned that songs can get long. Like two minutes! Holy shit! That means we get another breath between each pummeling beat down. “My Eyes” drones until about forty-five seconds, when we get into some crusty hardcore vibes. If you thought their messing around with pace on the earlier releases was cool, this one track pretty much has it all, going into some sludge. Tracks like “Deep Water” and “Ha'Ir Ha'zot” mix that powerviolence with a doomy sludge kind of feel. “Bet Zonot” and “Ha'Ir Ha'zot” keep the Hebrew language barrage going strong. And filthy. And heavy. And angry. “Bet Zonot” also has some sweet shredding to close. MooM uses a lot of variety to pummel you here.

Our final entry is last year’s split with God’s America, a powerviolence band from Las Vegas. This one feels especially fast and heavy. MooM’s four songs here include three in Hebrew, so their side sounds extra chaotic. The thirty-seven seconds of “Nefila” are particularly intense. After a sludgy start, “Ein” gets quite noisy as well. God’s America sounds heavier and darker, with more of a metal and grindcore influence to their powerviolence as opposed to MooM’s hardcore. There’s no relenting here, nor really any of those doom vibes interluding the grind. Instead, three of the songs blast by in under thirty seconds, while the other two have some slower downsteps to the grinding barrage. The closer, “Song 3” is more instrumental dirge than rapid-fire cacophony and a fitting closure as well.

Listen to all four releases in full on MooM’s Bandcamp: https://moom.bandcamp.com. If you dig bands like Gouge Away or Punch, or just want to get a feel for a heavier, angrier Not On Tour, MooM is definitely for you.