Review by Vinny for Lichen - Mossblood (2025)

I have been trying to do this write up for a while, frustrated by the fact that whilst I freely admit that this is a good album, after it has finished, I get little in the way of memorability. Mossblood seethes with all the urgent intensity you would expect from a black metal record. Yet at the same time it possesses intricacy in how tracks are put together. Whilst the tremolo is very “trilly” in the main and plays a big part in their sound, Lichen are not afraid to use chords either. Add to this a morose sounding melody and an ability to change pace and tempos, and you can hear how things quickly become interesting.

The audible bass sound most certainly helps Mossblood carry a complete and full sound. It is not a heavy or particularly “twangy” bass presence by any means, however it does retain its shadowy subtlety as it drives tracks like ‘Chthonian Mysteries’. Equally, a solid, if not perhaps a little muffled sounding performance on the drums is also a consistent part of the instrumentation on the album. The production job is lo-fi enough in terms of values yet there is also some polish to the sound that helps with the clarity in the mix. This balance should keep the kvlt hordes happy as well as bringing a sense of the dynamic to the sound of the record.

Album highlight, ‘From Life to Loam’ bristles with a sharp melodicism that could give Spectral Wound a run for their money. There’s a section about halfway through where the bass picks up some real resonance and the tremolo slugs it out with some open chords. It is moments like these that help Lichen standout from most of the releases I have heard in black metal so far this year. When you consider that there are no synths/keys on the record, the amount of tension that Lichen can build is impressive. The tremolo has a foreboding about it and the hopelessness in some of the melodies helps in building this thick atmosphere. Silly “fungal” black metal tag aside, Mossblood offers as strong a representation of the second wave you are likely to hear in 2025.