MORAG TONG
‘Through Clouded Time’
(January 2016)
6.5/10
These morose Londoners kick of their careers in misery with a throughly wholesome EP of sludgy stoner mayhem. They are not re-inventing the wheel with this earth-shaking racket, but they do what they do with confidence and style.
This is solid, straightforward music – heavy guitars, big, slow riffs, vocals flecked with suffering and a wee hint of artistry. Groove and melody surge through Morag Tong’s music like lactic acid through a pumping muscle.
The first two songs (‘Monolithian’ and ‘Godhead’) stomp along with a snarl firmly upon their lips, but while Morag Tong do the basics very well it’d be great to hear little more imagination or risk-taking amidst the carefully managed subtly and control. The title track, for example, is overly simplistic in places, building tension deliberately but failing to capitalise on that hard work. In the end, the track fizzles away rather humbly.
Closer ‘The Eyes Of Men’ gets proceedings back to a higher level, though, unleashing a monstrous riff and agonised vocals to create a stentorian call-to-arms for all the world’s woes.
DoomMetalHeaven 