From under the counter: Moon Hag's Demon

Header image for Interrobang article CREDIT: MOON HAG
A two-piece band that makes up for the fact that it's lacking a bass player. It's something to check out.

If you could have caught Black Sabbath on acid back in 1970 and made them turn the reverb knobs on their amps up to full, you probably would have an idea of what Moon Hag sounds like. Black Sabbath is widely known as the innovators of the doom metal sub-genre as well as heavy metal itself.

Doom metal is categorized by its slow crawls and bass heavy atmosphere, which is contrasted with the speed of mostly every other heavy metal genre. It has subsequently undergone various changes throughout the years with the incorporation of psychedelic effects and blues influenced riffs that now have fallen into a category of stoner metal.

Moon Hag falls somewhere in that realm if I had to select one, but they are skilled at also incorporating other aspects of psyche-rock, surf music and California-vibe euphoria.

Moon Hag lays a powerful punch into listeners from across the music spectrum that all may be expecting something different from the duo.

As a musician who has played in two-piece rock bands, it takes a lot of work to cover all aspects of a rock group with only drums, guitars and vocals. You need to be louder, angrier and heavier to hold your weight at a show.

Without a bass, two-piece bands often lack the bottom end so the guitarist must be able to have something to substitute that lack of sub-frequencies. Often either a really good riff or some crazy effect pedal will add to the sonic insanity, and Moon Hag is fantastic at offering both.

Listeners will watch as the sweeping delays and phaser effects melt their minds and slowly bring them to another world, leaving them hanging in limbo by the time the set is done. Moon Hag had a bass player but I believe it is now a two-piece band.

Versatile music like this is often attempted but rarely achievable. My own projects even found difficulty in developing our sound and it literally took years of experimenting to do so. Other bands that I have seen fall short in catching my attention as the sub-par riffs and stale vocal melodies just don’t cut it for me. Maybe it’s a matter of personal taste but I really think that it is a difficult thing to pull off.

About a year ago, however, Moon Hag came out from the darkness with their sound exactly where they wanted and the amount of work they put into their music really shows in their finished products.

Moon Hag has lately done some tours around Canada and the U.S. and was recently featured in Maximum Rock n’ Roll where they received rightful praise.

The band also has plans to perform and chill around California (a fitting environment I’d say) in the coming months, which will hopefully see the release of some new music that will keep their captivating existence as a band alive.

For more information, “like” the band’s page at facebook.com/moonhag. Check them out on their bandcamp page at moonhag.bandcamp.com, where you can listen to the EP Demon in all its fuzzy glory.