Black Mold – In the Dirt of Oblivion

Black Mold is a band from Portugal, formed in 2018 who combine Black Metal and Crust Punk into a crude and aggressive sound of their own. They released a couple of demo tapes, an EP and a full-length album in 2020 entitled ‘The Inheritance of Evil’. The band currently belongs to the Hellprod Records roster.

‘In the Dirt of Oblivion’ was released on September 20, 2024 by Hellprod Records in a limited edition of 80 cassettes accompanied by a digital download. The vocals are low, coarse often shouted and have this ‘fuck you’ attitude that fits the music very well, the guitars, bass, drums are in delicious D-beat mode. It’s all delightfully abrasive and feral – transforming chaos and hate into visceral art. Musically it’s quite linear and straight-forward with a huge degree of insane Crust, combined with rotten Black Metal from the abysmal depths, you can actually feel the black mass upheaval twisting the earthly layers, haha. No track exceeds three minutes and each one erupts in pure explosive fury! Forget about polished productions.

Everything here in the fukkin’ house trembles at the sound of Black Mold’s hellish and primordial attack. The album delivers a relentless and blistering assault with blasts of drums that crash like mortar fire and riffs that scrape the ears like steel brushes. The downright dirty production highlights the weight of the omnipresent bass, especially on The ‘Infinite Expanse of the Night’ and ‘Broken Rope’, while the vocals alternate between anguished screams and choking shrieks. In less than 23 minutes, Black Mold succeed in creating a no-nonsense torturous atmosphere that will lead you to certain madness, if you’re not careful. The aggressive music of ‘In the Dirt of Oblivion’ is very infectious, to say the least. I’m not sure if this nihilistic Black Metal/punk hybrid will appeal to everyone but Black Mold definitely have the potential to raise hell. Fave tracks include ‘Faint in Obscurity’, ‘Doom of Exiles’, ‘Broken Rope’ and ‘The Cask’.

For those who crave to get down and dirty for a change – it’s an awesome album from these satanic punks and an essential item for those who love this genre: Disrupt, Extreme Noise Terror, Nihilsect, Saccage… get your dosis!