Moriya - The Black Nail Tantra

Band:	Moriya
Album:	The Black Nail Tantra
Style:	Doom metal, Post-metal
Release date:	November 10, 2024
A review by:	musclassia

01. Vitripatra
02. Du Ba Mjug Ring (Ketu)
03. Khyab ‘jug Chen Po
04. Caraka
05. Bdud Po Rog Ti (Raven Head)
06. Bishnu Radza

After releasing a debut album with a kaleidoscopic cover, Moriya have opted for monochrome artwork this time around; thankfully, this doesn’t represent a similar trend in their music.

Atma is an album that I would have loved to review, but unfortunately I only discovered it several months later when I finally stumbled upon this recommendation by Starvynth. Thankfully, it wasn’t too late for it to secure a Metal Storm Awards nomination, and subsequently a Staff Pick in the post-metal category. The Buddhist-themed psychedelic post-metal style of the album was a joy to behold, crafting an engrossing ritualistic atmosphere through the use of repetitive song structures and various traditional folk instruments, particularly percussive. Just as Atma crept under the radar, so too nearly did The Black Nail Tantra, but while this sophomore album was released with minimal fanfare, the quality of its contents speaks for itself.

While the album might speak for itself, it does not do so through vocals; in contrast to Atma, which featured roared harsh vocals very much following the post-metal template, The Black Nail Tantra does not feature any lead vocals. It’s not vocal-less, as cameos of throat singing pop up a couple of times (such as midway into closing track “Bishnu Radza”), but said singing lurks very much towards the background on the occasions it appears. Perhaps the decision to drop the harsh vocals was motivated by the direction Moriya’s instrumentation has moved in, as The Black Nail Tantra is overall fractionally lighter than its predecessor.

However, that feeling may be partly down to the production; comparing “Асато (Asato)” from the debut album with a song like “Du Ba Mjug Ring (Ketu)” on this new release, and the latter doesn’t quite explode out of the speakers to the same extent. It’s not a seismic shift, but I found it to be noticeable, and initially it slightly hampered my engagement with the album until I got used to it. While there is a slight roughness to the production that I sense with the more metallic passages, it’s ultimately not a major obstacle to enjoyment of the album. The actual songwriting on the album bears plenty of similarity with Atma, but there’s also other directions that Moriya explore this time around.

The album kicks off with drones, throat singing and folk instruments as would be expected from having heard the previous album, but “Vitripatra” early on reveals a shift in tone towards something lighter and more melodic, and soon introduces a riff with a touch of stoner metal fuzz to it, along with psychedelic lead guitar twang. The song varies a lot more during its runtime than most songs on Atma, despite being considerably shorter than any of them, and there’s still time to throw in some real, stomping heaviness, backed up with almost industrial percussion.

“Du Ba Mjug Ring (Ketu)” and “Khyab ‘Jug Chen Po” are a bit more in line with the songs on Atma in terms of consistency of vision, but even while saying that, there’s quite a few different elements thrown in to spice up the consistent core in the former song, including bold synths and surprisingly frenetic lead guitar. It’s not universally convincing, but the ambition of Moriya is appreciable, and the cacophony of psychedelia at times during “Khyab ‘Jug Chen Po” is fascinating.

Perhaps the greatest way in which The Black Nail Tantra differs from its predecessor on the instrumental front is the amount of its composition that belongs to post-rock rather than/in addition to post-metal. “Caraka” is packed with post-rock tremolos, and when combined with tambourine it starts sounding somewhat akin to Cult Of Luna. The song’s second half dials down the heaviness further and pushes the soaring post-rock melodicism; while the percussion somewhat roots it still in Moriya’s overarching style, it’s quite a big shift in approach, and it works out well. Incorporation of post-rock also works out well on closing song “Bishnu Radza”, a 13-minute colossus that weaves some lush tremolos into its brooding, lurching metallic framework.

In comparison to its predecessor, The Black Nail Tantra exhibits some solid evolution, but at the same time, I’m not quite as smitten with it as I was with Atma. While the debut was less versatile, the consistent vibe it had was really compelling and very well executed; there’s a few slightly rough songwriting moments on the new album, and despite the continued use of a variety of non-metal instruments, I don’t find the psychedelic aura of it to be quite as entrancing. This is nitpicking though; in a relatively unspectacular year for post-metal, The Black Nail Tantra is one of the most inspired and exciting releases in the genre.

Rating breakdown