Last year’s unholy slab of Cthulhu-fixated slime from Moss was enough of a Thing That Should Not Be to make even the most gnarliest of gloombahs think twice before reaching for a follow-up from these British Doomlords, yet here it is, and heresy of heresies, there are two tracks under the twenty-minute mark! Worry not, however, ye denizens of Doom, ye dukes of crushing despair, the short tracks are equally as effective as the two long ones. Ritus opens with ambient drone, distant whispers and occasional echoing percussion hovering at the edge of your consciousness before Subterraen spews forth a deluge of droning riffs, expressive drum patterns and hauntingly miserable vocals. Those who have heard the first album will relish what they find here; it’s the same again, but cut up and put back together in such a way that the excess fat is lost – there’s less meandering here, you get the sense that everything is written rather than improvised.

Don’t expect some happy-clappy joyful Post-Rock release at the ends of these lengthy crawls; there is no destination. All that matters is the journey, a slow, horrific slither through nightmarish terrain. Is something watching you? Or is it just your imagination? Was that a movement in the corner of your eye? Or is it merely your mind creating images out of nothing, frantically trying to make sense of what you’re experiencing before it implodes from sheer terror… Moss do not make entry-level Doom, that’s for certain. Aside from some spoken (inaudible) lyrics in finale Gate III: Devils From The Outer Dark, there’s little to distinguish between the three main tracks, and unless this sucks you in and keeps you trapped in its maw from the moment the album starts, you may find yourself more than a little bored.

The chances are, however, that you will be sucked in, and even if you come to Sub Templum never having heard a note of Doom before you’ll be transfixed, horrified, as the bleak sounds contained within swarm over you like sewer rats. It takes talent to create music this dreary and depressing, and Moss have it in spades; purveyors of misery, stockpilers of sorrow, heroes of hatred – this will stop you from sleeping without a light for a long, long time.