Forgotten Lore: Mohoram Atta

How many times have you bought a split, record or, downloaded something without knowing the band and become completely infatuated with that said band? Now, how many times have you had to suffer the disappointment of realizing that band doesn't exist anymore? This was the story for me when I received my copy of Thou's split with Mohoram Atta entitled The Degradation of Life nearly two years ago.

While I bought the split for Thou's portion, I quickly became enthralled by Mohoram Atta's side. My inability to successfully coherence friends into a band, and as well as to do anything except play the drums had left an undying hunger for two of my favorite styles of music/aesthetics to be successfully combined. I dug through so many bands just to find the perfect mixture of melodic hardcore and black metal, some close (think Martyrdöd) some lacking the His Hero is Gone/ melodic touch I was looking for (think Infernal Stronghold or any recent Mark McCoy project, etc) and some just bad. 


All of that said, I was astounded at the end of Mohoram Atta's split with Thou hearing the track "Forever Sleep" as it completely blew me away. A somber melodic riff  put to building drums and an ajoining second guitar continue to build to one of the most epic crashes I've heard. Picture a song like  Envy's "A Warm Room" covered by a black metal band and you have "Forever Sleep" in a nutshell. 

This comparison isn't to discredit Mohoram Atta's originality, quite the opposite actually. Few times does a band capture exactly what's been humming in your head, or rather, offer something you've always wanted subconsciously, something you can't find and something that's always a goal. As high strung as that sounds, it's true as Mohoram Atta were able to cover a wide breadth of emotion and dynamics. From the mournful cascading mountain of a song like "Forever Sleep" to scathing and melodically driven tracks like "Birthright" or "Cull, " and one such as "Weight of Existence" which encapsulates them both, Mohoram Atta covered every single aspect of their sound.

I would have to say their work on the split with Thou is my favorite. Having been fortunate enough to pick up Desolate Motherfuckers when I was in the U.K. I'd say that's a second favorite, and lastly, out of what I know to exist, is The Weight of Existence demo. The band, at times, employed three guitarists and apparently had an amazing stage presence. 


It's a shame this band didn't continue. However, members have found their way into some great bands. Drummer Mike plays drums in the awesome black metal act Fell Voices, his solo project Sleepwalker (another good black metal act) and  Resin Hits. Singer Brandon has Yarn and Sea, a cute acoustic band with a female singer (not too bad actually) as well as Wolfgöd who play a glam inspired style of hard heavy metal. There's probably a handful I'm missing, but a lot of my information is from word of mouth, crosschecking members lists on Myspaces and Facebooks, etc.

Keep an eye out for any of their releases, or their member's bands.