Review Summary: Sweet Seduction
The room is hazy from the cigarette smoke and the lights are down low. In the middle of the room is a girl who's body is perfectly sculpted, she slowly turns around, looking deep into your eyes. She bites her lip and beckons you to come closer. You approach her, her features astound you and you can't quite believe what you're witnessing.
In a flare of passion you both undress and time slows down, you succumb to the lioness as her teeth sink into your neck. From that moment on every desire comes alive. After the night is over, you wake up, alone with only the scent of passion lingering in the air.
Welcome to Blood Moon Rise.
Listening to Blood Moon Rise is a seductive, rich, brooding journey, as Jex eerily serenades you and captures you in her rose scented web. Jex Thoth deliver a well-blended experience of occult laden doom, mixed with psychedelic rock. This isn't a journey down the rabbit hole, this is real. From softly sung vocals to quirky keyboards, Jex Thoth offer a vast experience, delivering each nuance with precision. Vocally, this album is euphoric, with harmonies that hypnotize, sending shivers down your spine. Jex delivers a otherworldly performance. Her voice is seductive yet undoubtedly powerful. She sings from the heart and the lyrics drip with emotion. The music and her voice intertwine with ease, coming together to create a colourful, symbiotic experience.
As a whole, the musical composition is a dreamy, doom affair. The composition allows the songs to breathe, they come alive. They never feel overly refined or unremarkable, they sit comfortably spewing out the weird and wonderful. Instrumentally, this album is a well-rounded experience, the guitars perpetuate the melancholic, constant climactic atmosphere. Blood Moon Rise features exceptional guitar melodies, which harvest an uncomfortable feeling, gently swirling and acrobatically filling the airwaves with doom. The nature of such melodies may seem bewildering, as they entice the listener to come closer, to be submerged in a pool of bliss, only to be dragged by the hair and beaten within an inch of your life. Even simplistic riffs are written with heart, accompanied with gargling bass-work filling the lower end, while the drums elegantly simmer in the mix, commanding to be heard. Furthermore, the keyboards reinforce the dream-like atmosphere with a notable presence, for example the beautiful composition featured on 'Keep Your Weeds'.
Jex Thoth have managed to create a powerful experience, not only musically but emotionally. Their secondary effort oozes with sincerity, heart and soul. The music is an expression of all things dark and mysterious. Not only does it embody the essence of doom and psychedelic rock but it does so in a smooth, sharp fashion. Essentially, Blood Moon Rise is a beautifully twisted affair.
