This is the musical equivalent of driving a tank slowly down a muddy gravel road, blasting a playlist of Conan, With the Dead, Helmet, and Mastodon. Doom is alive and thriving in 2017 - - if that’s not a contradiction - - and The Moth are poised to be an exciting part of this re-invigorated, burgeoning scene.

These tunes bring the requisite grimness, but don’t feel like they’re causing the universe to implode with despondency. They trudge but don’t plod, propelled by garage-simple, facile riffs and vocal melodies. The central riff to the title track, “Hysteria” (don’t think Def Leppard or Muse), is worth the price of admission alone, but the next song, “Brachial,” is even better. “This Life” hearkens back to classic Godflesh.
The production is appropriately muddy and consciously low-budget. The down-tuned bass strings flap so much, I could believe that Cécile Ash just moves her fretting hand and pounds the body with her fist. The toneless dual-voice singing is straight from page 3 of the Doom Metal employee Handbook, but the male/female vocal combination of Freden Mohrdiek and Ash gives an interesting twist; I like their take on it. Check out The Moth, just don’t let them eat holes in your sweaters.