Album Review: Mother Iron Horse - Under The Blood Moon
Reviewed by Matthew Williams
Mother Iron Horse are a stoner/doom rock band from Salem, Massachusetts, who were formed in 2018 by North Shore natives Adam Luca, Marco Medina and Chris Kobialka, and this second album entitled 'Under the Blood Moon' is the follow up to their debut 'The Lesser Key', which was released in 2019.
Now if you like your music heavy, loud and full of rock goodness, then you aren’t going to be disappointed by this album, as its good, and by that, I mean it’s REALLY GOOD! Does Ripple Music do anything less these days? I think not and it was the bands love of the riff that caught the attention of Ozzy Osbourne bassist Blasko, who signed them up to the label.
The writing for this album took part in a completely different place to that of their first effort. Suddenly in March 2020, their yearly plans of national and European tours were blown apart and the thought of never touring again became a reality. It was a bleak outlook, but ultimately led the band to envision a completely alternate universe to their usual one and given a blank canvas to create and craft a new beginning.
The wonderfully crafted eight songs on 'Under the Blood Moon' is escapism in its purest form and brings the listener from their own world into that of the bands. With a backdrop of living in a town renowned for its Witch Trials, the opening track 'The Devil’s Work' is a real headbanger. The riffs are just what you’d expect, heavy and fulsome, with a punchy drum line keeping the song moving along at a decent pace. It feels dirty and grimy, and a little but nasty, but it’s a damn fine song, that sets the tone for what’s to come.
'The Witches' is an aptly named song for a band hailing from Salem, and vocalist Adam Luca delivers a scary vocal, with a toned-down guitar sound before the big ol’ riff kicks in. I love the tempo changes midway through, it gives the song an eerie, dark feel to it whilst maintaining its doomy rock edge to the music.
With 4th member Devin Fields added to the ranks, 'Old Man Satan' will leave you with a sore neck, as the band become a bit sleazy and sludgey, but stay a slave to the riff, with the musicianship on display being a thing of beauty, the bassline is a killer, and weaves wonderfully in and out of the listeners ear, before the guitars leave you wanting more and more. This really is a cracking song from start to finish and leads into the impending doom that is 'Nocturnal Eternal'. Slow, moody, making you want to bark at the moon, in appreciation of what is coming. And you’ll be howling for just over 5 minutes, as this again demonstrates how brilliant the band are.
The title track 'Under the Black Moon' is more personal for Adam Luca, as he reflects on growing up in the mid 90’s in a working-class city with an LBGT parent. The lyrics “I am the son of a sinner/I carry that stone/Up the highest mountain/Or six feet below” are sung with full on rage and reflects Luca’s emotion then and how proud he still is now to carry that stone.
The next two songs, 'Samhian Dawn' and 'Samhain Night' are fully intertwined, the haunting and effortless beginning to the former, doesn’t quite prepare you for what is coming in the latter, its simple yet really captures the imagination, with all four musicians demonstrating their worth to the band individually whilst proving that collectively they are a well-oiled machine.
And somewhat sadly, the album ends all too quickly with final track 'Mass at Dungeon Rock' playing out more occult themed heavy riffed bars of pure joy, demonstrating a bit more grittiness in the melodies. The raging vocals are raw and brutal, the subtleness halfway through is captivating, before they finish off by punishing you once again and you’ll be thankful for that punishment.
