MOOSE CULT is rounded out by the reliable brothers in metallic arms of Hugo (aka Huge Cult; of Monsterworks, Thūn, Bull Elephant) playing fretless bass and James Knoerl on drums (Aviations, Gargoyl, Thūn), with a new collaborator in Tommy Loose (Smokescreen, solo artist) on lead guitar.

Featuring members of Monsterworks, Thūn, and Bull Elephant, Anglo-American EnviroMetal Pioneers, MOOSE CULT, will release sophomore album, Book of the Machines, on September 6 via Eat Lead and Die Music.

The need for a new cult was sparked by frontman Jon (aka Jonny Moose) generating a wealth of death/doom riffs collected during and after the pandemic (does it ever really end?). Since albums were already underway from related projects Monsterworks, Thūn and Bull Elephant, he figured “why not start up yet another band that sounds practically the same as all the rest!?”

Check out the Interview with the frontman and guitarist Jonny Moose below.

Greetings, from Metalheads Forever Magazine, I’m Keith. How are you doing today?

Great thanks. Jon from Moose Cult here. Guitar and vocals. Pleased to meet you.

Your sophomore album “Book Of The Machines” is out on September 6. Would you like to tell me about the songwriting and production behind the album?

I arranged all the music and lyrics, although the opening track “Erewhon” was written over some ambient noise that Hugo (bass) made, so it wouldn’t have existed without that as a starting point.

The songs that make up the rest of the album are selected from basic demo tracks I am constantly composing; which start life as just guide guitars and programmed drums (or sometimes only a click track). No vocals, bells or whistles.

The complete album has to have a certain ebb and flow, where the songs work together with different atmospheres using the classic format of A and B sides of roughly 20 minutes each. Even if it is never going to be pressed on vinyl, every album should follow this template (there’s something intuitively awesome about a 40-minute run time with epic peaks at the half way mark and to close the album) and I choose songs that will complement each other based on those criteria.

Our drummer, James, works from his studio in New York to record real/acoustic drums to replace the demo programmed drums, using the demos for guidance but adding his own personality; or if it’s a click track he writes all the beats from scratch. He also edits the drum tracks and sends them to me in a fairly complete form ready to include in a mix.

I re-record most of the rhythm guitars to lock in with the new drums and Huge adds his bass, both from home studios. Lyrics start to take shape. I tend not to start writing lyrics until all the main drums and rhythms are down. Vocals are recorded in my converted closet/vocal booth.

Tracks are then handed over to Tommy for lead guitar work. I make some notes on where I think leads should go but leave it to him entirely as to what those parts are going to be. His brother Sam is the recording engineer for Tommy’s lead guitars.

I mix the album from these components. As mentioned, the drums are already pretty well mixed by James and the drum sound makes up at least half of the sound quality of the album as a whole, so my job is fairly easy.

Dan Swanö masters the raw mixes. I like working this way because he is an independent pair of ears that can tweak any of my errors in judgement. I have worked with Dan on quite a few albums over the years,

Was there a concept or a theme that has been set behind the album?

Funny you should ask, because usually there is a common theme to the lyrics, and I often go for outright concept albums, a la King Diamond. However, this time out on “Book of the Machines” there is less of a definite unifying theme across the 6 or 7 songs. The opening and closing tracks are directly influenced by the book “Erewhon” by Samuel Butler (where a section of it is called “The Book of the Machines”) but all the songs in between cover a few different topics which are not particularly interrelated.

The original band concept was “enviro-metal” and the first album had an environmental theme running through it, whereas “Book of the Machines” (the song) is more concerned with artificial intelligence, which is quite a different direction to the first album.

Would you like to tell me a bit about the cover art, the making and the theme?

The cover art was created by All4band.com from a few ideas I gave them. The hooded cult figure also appears on the last Moose Cult album, but taken to the next level. The book he’s holding has some cogs and mechanical components leaping out of the pages so it is quite a literal interpretation of a “book of machines.” Nothing subtle about it. They did a great job.

Seven mind blowing metal songs beautifully written with amazing vocals and great musicianship with a huge comeback on the sophomore album, how do you guys feel about the outcome of the album?

Thanks for saying so. I am very happy with every track on this one and it came out about as perfectly as I could hope for. I’ve done over 20 albums and there are usually one or two tracks on any given release that I feel don’t quite hit the mark for whatever reason, but we got luckier on this one.

Is it my best and most favourite album? This week it is. Six months from now it will be whatever I am currently working on.

Not sure how the other guys feel, but the mood in Ye Olde Cult of Thy Moose has been very positive.

Do you have any special plans for the day of the release?

Not so far. It’s a Bandcamp Friday (all BC admin fees go to artist) so I’m more likely to have picked up a bunch of albums by other bands for listening to that day.

How’s the touring plans for the rest of 2024 and for early 2025?

Moose Cult is a studio project at present. Most of us have day jobs and commitments that would make touring difficult. The exception is James, being a professional touring musician that makes a living from it. Tommy also works in the music business, but Huge and I make ends meet in other ways. If the band took off and Metallica wanted us to open, then I’d be happy to oblige….but I don’t think Lars is so much into underground metal anymore.

While the recorded output of Moose Cult is a bit complex, it could easily be stripped back for a live environment.

A studio recorded video for Death Meditation has been released, do you have plans for an official music video from the album?

There will be a more well produced music video of the track “Headless Cult” that will be ready around the album release date.

How has the journey with Moose Cult has been so far?

Interesting. Moose Cult is one of five main bands I have (four I write most of the music for and one, The Living Fields, I do vocals and lyrics only) and, so far, it is the most “under the radar” in terms of review coverage and the like.

Hopefully this new album will change that. It feels like a great album and all the feedback so far has been extremely positive.

Would you like to share some highlight moments of the band?

Being such a new thing, there aren’t many highlights per se (not in the sense of “we just played Wacken to 50,000 people” or something like that).

However, on a personal level, I did really enjoy meeting James in person when he was touring through London last year. In fact, it was that conversation which kicked my arse to finish the demos for the second album and send them to him to work on.

It has also been great connecting with Tommy and getting his take on the music business. Not to mention his tasty lead work. I’ve known Hugo for over 20 years (!) so I’m glad to keep that friendship going and working together. He’s a phenomenal talent and writes great material which adds extra flavours over what I can do by myself. Ironically, there aren’t any Hugo-penned tracks on Book of the Machines, but there was one on the first album and will be on the next.

How do you see the future of the band and what’s the big dream?

Writing metal is what I do and I generate lots of it. At any one time I have about 3 albums’ worth of material written in demo form and 2 or 3 albums at some stage of production.

Therefore, Moose Cult will keep churning out albums for a while yet. There is a tracklist of demos for the next one mostly sequenced. We’ll see how Book of the Machines is received before moving forward….although regardless of the feedback we’ll still go ahead!

I don’t bother dreaming of being a rock star or even modestly successful anymore. The inner 14-year-old that first strapped on a tennis racket to rock out to AC/DC still does it purely for the fun of it.

Finally, any message for the fans around the world?

Image is nothing; metal is everthing!