Laermbelaestigung Zine - February 2007:Rough translation:
"Quite an unusual name, but the music is surprisingly cool and unconventional. The trio's delivering a mixture of Stoner Rock and Doom Metal , enriched with a lot of groove and underground Rock. But these are just clues to describe what these Asians are all about, cause overall they are way too complex and independent in their sound. Exempt from the title track "Eye Of Ra" they avoid to lengthen the songs unnecessarily but get straight to the point. Additional there are broad instrumental-parts and a great diversity. The guitars are raw and heavy, the drums pound and the harsh vocals are a conclusive plus as well. I also like the production of the record. It was recorded in the band's rehearsal room, but nevertheless they managed to mix a decent sound, which persuades with it's comforting and raw character. We are not dealing with cheap rehearsal sound here – so, if you want to search beyond common paths, this band from Hongkong is a safe bet."
German:
Recht ausgefallener Name, aber ..berraschende, ungew..hnliche und coole Mucke was hier aus den Lautsprechern quillt! Das Trio fabriziert irgendwie eine Mischung aus Stoner Rock und Doom Metal (macht den gr....ten Anteil aus), die mit etlichen Grooves und einigen Underground Rock Brocken verfeinert wird. Dies sei jedenfalls nur als grober Anhaltspunkt zur musikalischen Ausrichtung der Asiaten gedacht, da ihre Mucke zu vielschichtig und eigenst..ndig ist. Dabei vermeiden es die drei die Songs (abgesehen vom Titeltrack „Eye Of Ra") unn..tig in die L..nge zu ziehen, sondern bringen die Sache knackig und in ..berschaubarer Songl..nge auf den Punkt. Zudem gibt es relativ ausgiebige Instrumentalpassagen und man geht ziemlich abwechslungsreich zur Sache. Die Klampfen kommen recht roh und heavy, die Drumms bollern ordentlich und die rauen Vokals k..nnen sich auch H..ren lassen. Auch von produktionstechnischer Seite gef..llt mir das gute St..ck recht gut. Das Album wurde Live im Bandraum der Formation aufgenommen und trotzdem konnte ein ordentlicher Sound zusammengebastelt werden, der einen wohlig, rauen Charakter offenbart und gut ins Ohr geht. Also kein billiges Rehearsal Geschredder. Wer mal wieder etwas au..erhalb der g..ngigen Pfade antesten will, der liegt mit dieser Band aus Hongkong genau richtig.
Junto Magazine - December 2006:
WHAT IS A MOLTEN LAVA DEATH MASSAGE???
Daniel Quinn
Molten Lava Death Massage. Four words, seven syllables. Just from reading that one phrase, you immediately know that it's either the name of some type of obscure and potentially deadly backrub, or the name of a heavy metal band. In this case, it happens to be the latter.
If you haven't heard of Molten Lava Death Massage by now, you should have. Started two years ago by HKIS students Indrayudh Shome and Alexander Kelsh, the band has played shows ranging from the humble HKIS Senate Fesstival to the first year of the Live Life No Rules Festival and both years of the West Island School RockAid charity concert. Molten Lava Death Massage, or "MLDM" as those of us in the know call them, has also released a full length studio album, "Eye of Ra" on Shome's Concrete Lo-Fi Records, which was reviewed in HK Magazine and is available on online distribution site www.cdbaby.com, well known rock discussion website www.stonerrock.com, and even also available for purchase on iTunes.
So how did the band get where they are today? The group, as mentioned above, was founded out of Shome's desire to do something musical with Kelsh. The pair soon found Peter Andrew Chu of South Island School, a talented drummer and metal savant, and added HKIS student Benjamin Gagnon on bass. The foursome began to write songs and to be invited to play at gigs around Hong Kong. Adam Stephanus was also briefly added to the lineup as an additional vocalist. The band gained popularity after a noteworthy show at RockAid 2005 dressed up as nerds and calling themselves "The Calculators". In the months following, I would frequently witness random adults approaching members of the band to compliment them on their sound.
Early last year the band was faced with general criticism from the local musical community and a lineup change occurred, with Shome taking exclusive control of singing duties and the band being reduced to the trio of Shome/Chu/Gagnon. This was a time of great creative progress by the band, with several new songs written. Live, the band was pure energy, Shome screaming his lungs out into the microphones, Gagnon dancing while pounding out his low end lines, and Chu hammering away as always. After a string of well received shows, the band decided to go into the studio as Chu would be leaving at the end of the year.
Using very expensive equipment donated to the HKIS Music Club (of which Shome is the president and Gagnon the vice president of SDMY), resident Renaissance man Shome recorded, mixed, mastered and produced the entire album, with Gagnon contributing his artistic skills to the cover design. The result is a professionally printed effort from a band that has made a distinct mark in the local scene. "Eye of Ra" is a triumph, receiving a score of five stars from CD Baby and three from HK Magazine. Searching for the band on Google brings up discussions of the album on German metal forums. Slowly, Molten Lava Death Massage and their music are seeping out into the rest of the world.
With the departure of Chu, MLDM has been on a temporary hiatus. Recently, the band has resumed rehearsals and has hired the skilled HKIS percussionist Han Chui as their new drummer. The band's new lineup has a show on the 21st of October at the Aberdeen Warehouse. If you can't make it, then go down to your local record store or contact Shome to listen to the record!
HellrideMusic.com - November 18 2006:
These guys are pretty young to be this good. Youthful exuberance can make for a pretty fucking heavy effort when energies like these are focused.
There are a few rough edges here and there, but this is still worth listening to. This sounds at times like Sleep or early High on Fire, without the tendency to jam on an idea for an hour.
These songs each take a fuzzy, heavy riff and build a concise song around it. A truly solid heavy rock/stoner CD from three talented guys that I hope to hear more from.
It will be interesting to listen to their growth and see which direction their talents will take them in considering the excellent feel they have for traditional metal. MLDM is young enough and talented enough to provide a new perspective and different interpretation of the metal foundations they build on.
Rocknworld.com - Thrashpit - September 2006:
7.0
What do you get when you throw a group of Hong Kong youngsters, English language class, and Egyptian symbolism into a blender? The end result is an intriguing but still flawed act. Molten Lava Death Massage may have the best moniker this side of the Pacific Ocean, but after that, they are largely dependent on the actions of older, wiser, and more original bands. It wouldn't be right to say Eye of Ra isn't decent; rather, one sort of catches on a vibe that a multitude of other bands out there can do this style a million times more justice.
Hong Kong natives they may be, but it is apparent right off the bat that this young act aspires to walk in the hoofprints of the almighty Mastodon. So far, this is a pretty difficult task; as of now Mastodon are quite simply the strongest underground band in the world and right on the cusp of exploding into mainstream acceptance. The songs on Eye of Ra all have that buzzing, half-thrash vibe to him. Like Mastodon, Molten Lava Death Massage love to throw out psychedelic grooves that seem much faster than what they really are; yes, it is gnarly and killer, but this Hong Kong act simply lacks the pizzazz of innovation.
At a brisk thirty-three minutes, the band also relies on a surprising amount of filler. The meandering acoustic intro of "Death is Never Sated" could have been fleshed out more, as could some of the actual songs. When "Bayonet" kicks in, a listener can be forgiven for expecting more than the up-tempo amp worship and caustic howls that blare out of the speakers. Thankfully, the rest of the album is actually pretty tight and well-oiled once the chips are down; "Tecumseh and the Prophet" has an almost danceable din to it, and tracks like the ferocious "Nandeska" and the siege of "Axe of the Occult" inhabit a world of churning stoner-thrash hard rock. I can see the massive yet funky "Adam's Fieldtrip to Hell" appearing on Boris, the cult legends of Japan's mighty drone-metal scene, and the closing "The Eye of Ra" is a mini-epic full of all sorts of trance-inducing frolics through madness.
As often as they conjure up smoked-drenched vibes and hearty distortions, the band also sees them vanish in wisps of inconsequence. After spinning this several times a day for almost an entire week, I can't shake the feeling that this is an easy to forget album. Though some spots contain a brutal poignancy, this band is obviously just finding its sea-legs so to speak and isn't totally ready to leave shore. With this in mind, it is highly apparent Molten Lava Death Massage have potential to bloom into a real class act, especially in the increasingly solid Asian metal microcosm. Keep an Eye on this one.
BC Magazine - September 14 2006:
Mammoth, unremitting, and, most importantly, groovy, is how lead singer Indy Shome describes his band Molten Lava Death Massages first album, Eye of Ra. And thats a fair description. Molten Lava Death Massage are three private school boys on a mission to blow your ear drums with screaming power chords, pulsating drumming and an improbably mature growl from 17-year-old whizz kid Shome. Ben Gagnon (bass) and Andrew Chu (drums) join Shome to form a trio that produces the noise and energy of a five-piece. Shome says the most satisfying thing about the album was just putting something out for people to hear, and picks the title track The Eye of Ra as his favourite because its the slowest and therefore, I feel, the most foreboding of the songs and I love the ending!
Stonerrock.com - September 11 2006:
I believe the children are our future. Treat them poorly and they'll come up with something like Molten Lava Death Massage. It's a necessary evil, because if this allegedly still-in-high-school three-piece was treated well, they'd probably come up with some saccharine sounding crap.
Instead, they wrote the nine-song Eye of Ra. Death Is Never Sated, the lead track, starts off on a misleading mellow note, but after its one-minute running time, the band bursts out the gate with Bayonet. Like the remaining songs on Eye of Ra, Bayonet hovers between sludge, hardcore, and straightforward metal (with the occasional nod to stoner rock, as on the instrumental Adam's Field Trip to Hell). The album sounds like it was recorded live, which gives it a raw, punchy feel. I get the feeling that had they spent some more time recording, it wouldn't have such an immediate sound.
That Let's just fucking knock this thing out mentality of Eye of Ra occasionally works against it, as some of the drumming seems off. Nothing major, just moments where I got the feeling a second take wouldn't have been a bad idea. But the band compensates for that with stellar tracks like Tecumseh and the Prophet and the title song, which ends the album on a brutal note.
The best thing about Molten Lava Death Massage is their age. That they came out of the gate this strong is promising as hell, and I'd like to hear what they come up with next.
CD Baby - September 7 2006:
5 of 5 stars
"Maybe you interpret the classification "Stoner Rock" to mean "Metal for Dummies." Maybe you couldn't care less about sludge filled bass riffs that barrel forward like they're going to crawl out of your speakers and kick you in the back of the head. Maybe you honestly can't fathom that a song called "Adam's Field Trip To Hell" could possibly have any musical merit, let alone be frighteningly abstract enough to be overtly melodic. Maybe you're in utter disbelief that 3 teenagers from Hong Kong are responsible for ravaging their amps to create this ooze of doom that even throws some math rock in for good measure. Maybe you think Molten Lava Death Massage isn't a really sweet name for a band. Maybe checking out this CD will change your mind."
HK Magazine - September 1 2006:
"It's half Rage Against the Machine, half Mastodon, with some great guitar hooks, relentless drumming, and the occassional melodic interval..."
Trent Ramseyer, Whores of Tijuana - August 30 2006:
"Due to the recent destruction of my inner ears due to MLDM's riffage you will soon receive a letter from our lawyers."
NineHertz.co.uk - August 30 2006:
"After numerous spins of this record, I can safely say it's (in my opinion) one of the best recordings to come out of Hong Kong in the past 10 years. I say that on good authority, having lived there myself for 13 years and releasing records there too. The DIY nature of the recording is present, yet a cohesive studio-savvy is what this record delivers. The band self-produced this effort and the results are top notch.
Musically the band wear their influences on their sleeves but also execute the songs in a way that gathers the influences, shuffles em' like a deck of cards and spits them back in a woven-tapestry of riff rock, doom, stoner, psych, metal in many interesting ways. There's a bit of everything here, Karma to Burn, Pelican, Sons of Otis, Earthride to name a few.
The age of the band members belies their craft. Not even out of High School, yet these kids can certainly riff n' roll. Singer/guitarist Indrayudh Shome's vocals are a highlight, incorporating death metal growls with more held back melodic delivery that serves more as an added instrument rather than a method of delivering cohesive clear vocal lines. This works to great effect, accompanying the brutal rhythms and converging guitar lines.
The record opens with 'Death is Never Sated', a Pelican-esque guitar intro and booms into 'Bayonet' which has it's Karma to Burn riff-stylings dirging away, complete with brutal gruff vocals that explode you into the first verse.
Largely instrumental, this record uses vocals minimally and allows the guitars and bass to interact with fierce beats to derive a fist-in-the-air sorta vibe that sits incredibly well with a reefer and a big bottle of Pabst Blue Ribbon. Trust me.
'Axe of the Occult' is one of the heaviest tracks on here and the rabid-strained vocals sit nicely in the mix behind double-kick-drum patterns and thrash riffing the ends with a memorable pained-scream of singer Indy.
The title track, is really indicative of all the elements I have used to describe this band, and is a good introduction to these guys if you haven't already heard them. Clocking in at 8 minutes it represents the sound and mixing of styles that these guys are so good at doing.