Mos Generator's Colossal Conversation: "I Spoke to Death" (Track Premiere)
After Labor Day, the shortened work week always seems to drag on with a vengeance: four days stretched into an infinite void, which this year is made that much more everlasting by a lack of anything to do. Though heavy metal can’t fill the gaps in our social structures, it can fill the gap between your skull and your brain, clouding out externalities and setting up a comfortable buffer between you and the world.
One of the most effective varieties is a certain kind of doomy rock: the kind that’s played with a reassuringly laconic swagger, fuzzy tones, and earth-shattering kick drums. Washington’s Mos Generator and Italian stoner lords Di’Aul have, despite geographical and viral barriers, teamed up to give us a double dosage of the stuff, strong enough to claw back thirty minutes of your day from whatever energy-draining reality waits at your doorstep. Give ear to “I Spoke to Death,” which stoutly kicks off Mos Generator’s side of the Mos Generator/Di’Aul split (and fair warning, Di’Aul’s half only dials the doom up further).
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Even being explicitly described by frontman Tony Reed as reminiscent of 1980s Pentagram, the heavy roots of American doom have given fruitful yield in the track — from the main riff’s sinister churning to the clever “Nightmare Gown” nod in the lyrics. It’s a fair comparison, though the song takes shape more driven by Mos Generator’s decade-spanning chops than anything else — the rest of their half of the split goes in entirely different directions, delving into mind-altering psychedelic doom and a nifty pick for a Pink Floyd cover (“Fearless”).
As influenced by classic doom metal as it might be, “I Spoke to Death” takes the classic big-riff-you-can’t-get-enough-of formula and executes it with an indelible sense of soul that puts that big riff weirdly close to your heart. Perfect, I’d say, for a few moments of unwitting reverence.
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Mos Generator/Di’Aul releases September 25th via Argonauta Records.
Regarding “I Spoke to Death,” frontman Tony Reed comments:
We haven’t been able to work on any new material this year so I have been digging through the Mos Generator vaults to find unreleased songs for new vinyl issues. I Spoke To Death is a demo of a song that we recorded in our jamroom in May of 2014 and never made a proper studio recording of after. It was a collaboration between me and drummer Shawn Johnson, and in my opinion, sounds like 80s Pentagram. If I remember correctly, this was only the second or third time we ever played it. After that, I brought it to my studio to do additional guitars and vocals.
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