Moriaty – The Die Is Cast 
Release Date: Out Now
You know that moment when your
one of your best mates turns up at the pub with their new girlfriend and not
only are they stunning but they’re also a really good laugh and they can hold
their ale? And as soon as that girlfriend goes to the bogs, you all crowd
around your mate like the proudest bunch of brothers there ever was with pats
on the back and hearty pinches of the cheek. Well, that’s the emotional
response I’m having with the new album from Devon duo Moriaty and, judging from
the social media response in the week since it’s release, I am not the only
one. This album is a beaut and I want you to know that up front.
‘The Die is Cast’ is Moriaty’s
second album and opens with ‘LOL’, a track that bursts through the saloon doors
with both barrels still smoking in their holsters and orders a bottle of
whiskey just by looking at the barmaid. The guitars swagger, the drums are
ground shaking and that’s just the opening bars which get torn a new one by
Jordan’s searing rock’n’roll vocal. We are, considerably, up and running.
Recent single ‘Shake’ is up next and it makes even more sense in the context of
the album with those Matt Bellamy guitars slicing through your mind while
Jordan sings about Kennedy and Khrushchev and their superior shaking skills. In
the early part of 2020, Moriaty dropped ’24-7’ as a single and the assured and,
well, loud sound knocked everyone’s socks off but that guitar solo has lost
none of it’s impact during the intervening months which is really saying
something in this year of years.
Track 4 is the six-and-a-half-minute
opus that is ‘Balls Out of the Bath (An Ode to Mary)’ which finds the guitars
in more brooding form and the drums snapping at our heels. I’ve been trying to
avoid the obvious comparisons to Royal Blood and the Black Keys but on this
track it’s hard to resist the rhythmic combination of those low guitar notes
and that punchy snare. Then again, the pair regain their unique space with the
piano and drums breakdown so maybe I should have resisted such laziness a
little longer. ‘OH!’ explores the band’s
darker side with flavours of Nick Cave, Nirvana and Johnny Cash seeping in
while ‘Cognitive Dissonance’ creates an uncertain Muse meets Incubus landscape
with tribal percussion underpinning an impassioned speech by Stephen Fry.
An ominously spooky piano melody
opens ‘John Wayne’ before a funky beat kicks in, those low guitar notes grumble
back in to view and some spoken word from an unidentified American. It’s the soundtrack
to the collapse of the Western world and it, strangely, sounds delicious. ‘The
Die Is Cast’ is an outro of sorts, bringing to a close an album that is so
rich, ambitious and textured that you immediately want to return the needle to
the start of the record. But wait, what’s this? An extra treat. Matthew and Jordan
have bunged ‘Netflix’ on the end for one last rattle of the piano with a
beautifully raw sound and mournful notes creating that Wednesday afternoon in
an abandoned pub vibe but with dappled sunshine streaming in and giving you a
sense of hope.
I’m not sure I can overstate just
how wonderful this album is but just in case you are undecided then I would ask
you to trust me and just go buy the album on vinyl now. As well as sounding
amazing, it is a thing of absolute beauty so even if you decide you don’t like
the sound you will have something nice to look at whilst also helping out a
couple of hard working musicians. Merry Fucking Christmas.
More information: https://www.facebook.com/moriatysounds