Like a séance through distorted amplifiers, Whores Of Holyrood emerges from the shadows with the kind of haunting gravitas that makes you question whether you’re witnessing art or exorcism. Jeremy Moore’s latest offering as Zabus occupies that liminal space between the sacred and profane, where gothic Americana meets psychedelic decay in a ritual that feels both deeply personal and universally apocalyptic.
Moore, previously known for his work in Zero Swann and Gorazde, has carved out distinct territories across multiple projects. While his Bell Barrow outfit (recently reviewed – link below) explored the more formless experimental corners of power electronics, Zabus operates within more structured musical frameworks, albeit ones draped in shadow and sustained by Moore’s Danzig-esque baritone delivery. This fifth full-length in less than two years marks a significant departure for the Washington D.C. project, being the first Zabus album performed entirely by Moore himself, stripping away the usual floating collective of contributors to reveal something comparatively naked and urgent.
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The album’s political undertones are perhaps most viscerally realised in the video premiere for ‘A Multitude of Cruelties’, a visual collage that mirrors the sonic unease of the track itself. The video weaves together a disorienting tapestry of noisy still images, candid family footage, bizarre clown sequences, and gothic figures, all washed in super-8 level grain that complements the monotone psych dirge perfectly. This visual approach—part family album, part fever dream—reinforces Moore’s exploration of what he describes as the “positive feedback loop between fascist authoritarian rule and societal inaction, apathy and resignation.”
View the video clip for ‘A Multitude of Cruelties’ below.
Released via D.C.’s Saccharine Underground, Whores Of Holyrood functions as both metaphor and rallying cry, with Holyrood representing the established classist hierarchy that “derives its strength and influence from our subjugation.”
Musically, Whores Of Holyrood treads a precarious line between dark blues-drenched Americana and psychedelic overlay, creating something that feels perpetually submerged. Moore’s processed psych guitars emanate like glimpses of light through floorboard cracks, whilst his voice carries the kind of shadowy authority that recalls both Nick Cave‘s introspective balladry and Michael Gira‘s existential weight.
The title track emerges as a standout, channeling the upbeat hymnal qualities of The Sisters of Mercy through the murky, under-produced restraint that echoes uber-obscurists Les Rallizes Dénudés. It’s here that Moore’s vision crystallises—gothic post-punk that refuses easy categorisation, instead wallowing in its own atmospheric density.
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‘Cremation Psalm’ rides out smoke-riddled whisky-stained walls with cool charm, though the execution occasionally wavers between chic and overwrought. The shoegaze-esque guitars, processed through feedback pedals and swallowed by echo, form a unifying thread across the record—never quite reaching the unapologetic drive of Spacemen 3 in their heyday, but Zabus’s atmospheric descendancy isn’t shy in the attempt.
The album’s depressive crescendo arrives with ‘Bone Record’, a swampy experimental dirge that hits with genuinely affecting force. Here, Moore channels the kind of sombre experimentalism that recalls Skin (the Michael Gira and Jarboe Swans side-project), unceremoniously spewing lyrics like: “Conceal my restitution / In the flesh of sunken eyes / Believe in mercy / When I say or hear / The pains of suicide.” The track’s rolling drone constantly mutates but never truly changes—like the eternity of waves crashing against the helplessness of human condition.
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Whores Of Holyrood succeeds as both sonic statement and political meditation, finding Moore at his most focused and urgent. Whilst previous Zabus releases occasionally felt scattered across their various contributors’ influences, this solo effort benefits from singular vision—even when that vision is steeped in darkness and decay. The album’s fusion of abrasive discordance with mournful blues Americana creates the intended tension Moore seeks, reflecting a world “crippled by corruption, religious perversity and devolution.”
Moore’s call for resistance—starting with “an idea, a form of artistic expression, or just being awake to the horrors that are perpetrated every day”—finds its most compelling expression in tracks like ‘Bone Record’ and the title track itself. Here, the political becomes deeply personal, and the experimental serves the emotional rather than merely showcasing technical prowess. Whores Of Holyrood stands as Moore’s most cohesive statement to date, a work that manages to feel both timeless in its gothic weight and urgently contemporary in its political anger.
Listen to Whores Of Holyrood below.
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