Mammon – Luna de Sangre [US, Black] (2017)

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Self Released | 11-24-17

I need to ease up on my pre judgements surrounding atmospheric black metal. For a style that has a ton of directions, I feel I have been jaded to a legion of albums with trees on the cover and a fawning for post rock melodies. Mammon is tagged at atmospheric black on Bandcamp yet does not walk the line of nature reverence, philosophical transcendence, or emotional longing. Rather this Detroit based band feel cold as concrete, full of disease, and possibly undead rot.

Luna de Sangre is a monumental record which pummels with fists rather than perches on top of any forlorn looking structures. There is ferocity with this music which makes their whole death obsessed city warlock image even more real. This is music not for isolation but rather panic inside an enclosed space. Aside from having one of the best album art of the year, songs like Children of Early Graves hits such a fantastic aesthetic that it is hard not to get on board.

This band seems to be continuing to make music without much attention from the outside. Their last record Hexed was released on Bandcamp and it may seem like that is the fate for Luna de Sangre. This is to be expected but it is humorous how a larger audience would appreciate the well mixed black metal riot that this band seems to engineer.