Moloch Conspiracy – Baclou

If there’s any one single thing that I treasure more above anything else in my music it’s undoubtedly novelty. I have always enjoyed hearing new things as much as I enjoy seeing new acts tackle old sounds because even then there is loads of originality to go through most of the time. When I keep seeing the same name releasing material over and over again in a short span, it makes me wonder how long they can go before burning out. That’s the question I faced when I came upon the latest offering from Moloch Conspiracy, my go-to for dark ambient when the mood strikes me, but, fortunately, this man has yet to let me down in any capacity.

What gets me about dark ambient is that it can feel really two-dimensional sometimes as it can feel as though there’s no depth in the material albeit it can easily be an engrossing piece filled with haunting atmospheres and terrifying visages. Moloch Conspiracy has delivered consistently with each offering, but after a while, I wondered if the act would turn somewhere different or not. There was a thematic change with his last effort, “Kur”, but it’s with this offering that Moloch Conspiracy really changes the pace in an incredibly refreshing way. “Baclou” brings us not to a damp dungeon or some cave with the storm raging in the distant outside, but rather to a steamy forest where its depths are seemingly infinite as Moloch Conspiracy guides us through the thicket of French Guyana where the very trees has so many secrets that are to be lost to time. The scurrying in the bushes influences the archaic rituals as “Baclou” takes us through the environment and its misty veil, through the bubbling swamps with its treacherous pits, across the savannah exposed to the deadly sun, or bounding between the islands as Moloch Conspiracy gives us a tour like very few others. And yet, through all this gorgeous imagery, Moloch Conspiracy never loses a single ounce of its ominous nature as there isn’t a single setting contained within “Baclou” that doesn’t make your hair stand on end or instincts flare as at every turn there is something to be afraid of in the paradise that we find ourselves in with nothing but Moloch Conspiracy to prod us onwards into the bush to an unknown destination with an unknown destiny.

I’ve always enjoyed a forest theme as that’s ripe for the use of different kinds of psychedelia, meditation, and a grand sense of wonder in music and I can’t help but feel it fits gloriously with dark ambient in this scenario as Moloch Conspiracy yet again brings a delightful tapestry of darkness wrapped in mystery that’s simply enthralling from beginning to end. “Baclou” started as a record that I had my doubts about, but by the end I was shown as to how foolish I really was.

LISTEN to “Baclou” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Moloch Conspiracy on Facebook here.