In channeling half a decade’s worth of psychic-spiritual energies into their own alchemical pathway towards singularity Brussels, Belgium-based progressive death metal quartet MOSS UPON THE SKULL weave from an introverted loom aimed at a divine result. Their sophomore full-length album ‘Quest for the Secret Fire‘ intends to reject all illusions in its thirst for transcendental waves of refinement, a work that’d taken its time in authoring its contiguous thread. The result is not a typical prog-tech death release in the sense that the performative aspects of their craft reach for atmosphere, fluidic treatment of both classic and moderne structures, in creating a whole statement built in cascading reach. The effect is short of vexing, only challenging for its masterful steps taken from point to point in flowing through their process via admirable variety of tone, texture and tincture.

Moss Upon the Skull formed circa 2010 ultimately developing a launching point that’d include notes on death metal progressivity which’d addressed the need for organische expression and dissonant, often percussive guitar work akin to ‘Obscura‘ inspired revisionism and fusion-lifted tangent. A loosened gait and tentative step characterized their first CD-R single (‘Imperial Summoning‘, 2014) where interest in progressive rock had likely trickled down from heavier sources. A deeper lean into aggressive yet rhythm section heavy style alongside working with Damian Herring for the render ensured the band’s debut EP (‘The Scourge of Ages‘, 2016) was given comparison with Horrendous around the time of release though I’d suggest the creative streak of the band was already becoming their own around that time. Unique vocalizations, spring-loaded riff runs, and their own surreal moodiness cropping up from song to song began to relay the greater blueprint for their era-estranged sound but without having delivered the full force of their ideas at novel pace.

You could hear all of those formative ideas coalescing into something unique, readied to emerge beyond its chrysalis on their debut LP (‘In Vengeful Reverence‘, 2018) an album which’d escaped my radar that year but’d offered a notable ride through its lounging and thrashing form of prog-death. Still attuned to raw underground sounds on some level without clarifying any certain nostalgic or modernist edge to their station it was a wandering, obscure set of movements channeled into harmonious resolve with new sounds and unique tangents arriving within each song (my favorite being on “Lair of the Hypocrite”). What that debut’d lacked and in some sense what Moss Upon the Skull have no reason to remedy today on ‘Quest for the Secret Fire‘ is the creation of pinpoints, lasting destinations on their journey. As the title suggests their vision quest hasn’t ceased over the last six years and their second album travels on seeking new elemental fixations to pull inspiration from. All things considered some knowledge of the previous album is preferential here for the sake of contrasting their personae built and now reconstructed, since they’ve not only swapped out a considerable bass guitar presence beyond 2022 but also the arbiter of the unique and characteristic clean and backing vocals present on all prior releases.

Granted those aspects return in full, perhaps from a more (early) Opethian / later Edge of Sanity point of reach (see: “Heretical Experiments in the Subterranean Citadel”) where the dramatization of 70’s escalator prog-rock riff runs meet with eerie keys and obsessive, tightly wound ranting technical death movements. Chugging at the roots of most phrases and framing each stanza with reflexive, elastic rhythmic changes a modern feeling progressive death metal atmosphere arises herein and initially, via opener “Dwelling in Charnel Grounds”, recalls the tension and dramatic release of Horrendous‘ ‘Anareta‘ era, patient but not inert in its performative entrance. The hum of the keys and upward waltzing movement beyond ~3:42 minutes into “Heretical Experiments in the Subterranean Citadel” provides the clearest first peaking sensation of what this record is all about, finding that surrealistic edge between death metal severity and the introspective personae of their collective. Great attention has been paid to the flow of this album and we know this because of how well these compositions link arm-in-arm across the full listen in generating heavy, melodic, tense, and relief-inducing strands of thought in relative harmony via the occasional burst of high level technique.

The use of synth/keyboards on the Side B popping “Initiation to the Extracorporeal Odyssey” offer another familiar yet well-evolved step beyond Moss Upon the Skull‘s debut LP not only in terms of tightened guitar work leading the song with a steadily doomed groove to start but also the grinding junctures of the rhythmic layers as they present slow-grinding turns of the riff, a feat which initially recalls the strange technical rant-and-ring moments on Sickening Horror‘s ‘Overflow‘ briefly. Harsh vocals remain foreboding, distant and cooked to a nuclear degree on this particular song for their distorted tail-end helping it to stand out as one of the better pieces to hit on the rush through overall; While I had initially been missing the walking and bopping bass guitar presence of the previous album I’d ultimately find this album even more focused on the interplay between the guitar and drum but not void of its bass guitar voice, though it is too quiet in step most of the time for my own taste. A key exception might be the infectious rhythmic tread of “Woe to the Goldmakers (Paths Towards Chrysopoeia Pt. II)” an aggressive reprisal of the first part that’d locked into its many moving parts for a more classic 90’s prog death feeling than most of the record, albeit chilled to a more temperate build-up.

While the moment to moment action and the worming riff-driven weave of ‘Quest for the Secret Fire‘ is pocked with richly developed rhythmic turns and some of the heavier, throttled pushes to be found in Moss Upon the Skull‘s discography, occasionally reaching a nearly The Chasm-level of relish in meandering riffcraft per it being build from a contiguous thread of wandering fusion. This nearly holds their work back from creating moments which break through beyond their flow. This’d meant the profundity of certain details and songs took some time to yank out of their setting, a feature which both works for and against the result depending on your expectations. It is at the very least a pace and a seamless design which of works well for their nuanced and virtuosic hand though I’d felt this album/experience truly served the ear best when given full attention, note for note so that the immediacy of the ride through might hit with the right spine-jostling level of energy.

Otherwise I think the cover artwork from Simon Chognot aka Cold Mind Art is one of my favorites of the year thus far not only for the image itself but also how well it suits the self-searching wield of the band on this album. Though the whole of the experience is finely curated it might not offer an immediate undeniable ear-wormer up front but with due patience there is yet some manner of bliss and confrontation to be found in the uneven waltzing step of their work where the familiar often lines up with either abstraction or beauteous chugging romp. A moderately high recommendation.

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