This album starts off strongly with “Melt Your Mind”. Right from this intro, this may be some of Mutoid Man’s most coherent material to date. For the first time in a really long time, listening to a Mutoid Man track to me seems to have a purpose, and that’s a great feeling. “Melt Your Mind” is very “Off The Walls” sounding. I love the very hyper sounding guitars that can’t seem to sit still for more than a few seconds, as well as vocalist Steven Brodsky’s energetic and powerful vocal performance. I feel like this is the sound that Mutoid Man have been looking for for years. It incorporates elements of Thrash metal as well as Sludge Metal, what a great opening track. Up next is “Bone Chain”. The material on this album continues to be some of the most off the wall metal I’ve heard all year. I love the very sludgy and sloppy riff here, and I feel like in a way, Mutoid Man have dropped their guard a little for this album. And trust me, that’s not a bad thing. What I mean is, this is just a straight up metal album, and that’s what I wanted them to make. No gimmicks, no crazy genre defying riffs, just a balls out metal album. And that’s what we get here, with the very intense drumming and seemingly constant breakdowns. Tracks like “Bone Chain” are just so simple, and remind me a whole lot of that Power Trip album that came out earlier this year. The solo’s here are mind melting, the vocals continue to be aggressive, and there’s really not much more I can say. “Micro Aggression” up next has much more of a thrash influence, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But when I hear this, I feel like I’m back in the time where I really didn’t get what sound Mutoid Man was going for. “Micro Aggression” while others may totally dig this one, comes off a little too convoluted for my liking. However, I do certainly like elements to this such as the very hectic guitars as well as some of Steven Brodsky’s more wild sounding vocals. But just feel like with tracks like this that Mutoid Man are trying to usher in way too many elements to their sound. On the other hand, “Kiss Of Death” is a seriously cool sound I can instantly get behind from Mutoid Man. I love the very telling, ominous intro, followed by this very chaotic breakdown. Mutoid Man continue to come off so focused, not to mention the very Post-Apocalyptic vibe to a lot of these tracks is just fabulous. Brodsky on “Kiss of Death” has such an interesting delivery, it almost has sort of a cross between a Southern Metal howl and early James Hetfield worship. But I digress, every thing about this track is brilliant, from the very sludgy riffs to all of the imagery within the lyrics. Not to mention, some of the double bass drumming in the last minute is RIDICULOUS.
“Date with the Devil” really doesn’t give you a single second to waste. This one bursts into a seriously groovy metal lick almost immediately, there’s actually quite a few metal genres being blended here. Now, this one lyrically is a little goofy and totally over the top. But my God, is that every what I love about this one. This is just the sort of ridiculous metal track that works for me. All of the outrageous lyrics about literally going on a dare with the devil, set among these very chaotic breakdowns just works so well for me. “Headrush” up next starts us off with another very Doom Metal oriented intro. This one get’s going pretty quickly, but doesn’t pack quite as much of a punch. My main issue here is that there’s plenty of aggression to go around, and don’t get me wrong it sounds fine. But I feel like this one doesn’t have as much buildup or structure as some of the other tracks here. I would have been so much more interested in tone if it incorporated some more buildup before becoming this very off the walls metal jam. Without any buildup or real structure though, this track just sort of comes off as just another track,, which still really isn’t too bad, especially when you consider that some of these instrumentals are some of the most intense we’ve heard yet. Obviously the boy’s from Mutoid Man can read minds, because “Irons In The Fire” is up next, and it’s exactly what I wanted to hear from then. The intro here is exactly what I needed from Mutoid Man, being so much slower and more patient before working their way into the main riff. The result is seriously epic, and leads to some of the most memorable guitar work not he entire album. The vocals here, interestingly enough are some of the most melodic we’ve heard here so far, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It actually ends up making “”Irons In The Fire” stand out among the other tracks. I feel like this track is just another nothing fancy, straight up metal jam, from a nothing fancy and straight up metal album. Not to mention, the completely over the top and theatrical ending is pretty damn fantastic. Then we have the album’s title track “War Moans”, and right off the bat we’re treated to some seriously epic drums. I love the absolute intensity of this one, as well as the very distant guitar licks. As “War Moans” pummels onwards, I feel like this one keeps getting better and better. As far as intensity goes, this one is the crown jewel of the album. Here, there’s once again a lot of thrash influence, but if comes off seamlessly. Not only is it really intense and absolute metal euphoria, but it has fantastic moments like the highly simple yet memorable chorus of the repeated “WAR MOANS!!!”. Also, I’m seriously loving the continued Post Apocalyptic feel to all of this, and I can’t wait to see if Mutoid Man work more with it in the future.
“Wreck and Survive” shows Mutoid Man clambering back to this much more Thrash oriented sound. But I don’t know about you, but I feel like this one once again comes off seriously convoluted. But it get’s even worse as this track rolls on and slows down. I don’t know where this track came from or who thought it was a good idea, but this is not a flattering sound for Mutoid Man at all. The only thing that’s kind of exciting here is the very wailing guitars on this one. Everything else about this sort of falls flat and gets boring really fast. Then we have “Afterlife”, and I can officially say that I have no idea where Mutoid Man is going anymore. The first 3/4 of this album seemed so focused and on track. But then we get songs like this that go back to the sort of ugly clashing of styles that Mutoid Man was working with years ago. Then we have the lyrics here, that once again come off seriously cliche and ridiculous. But in this much more sloppy atmosphere, guess what? That’s right, I can’t take them seriously at all. I do like the aggression here though, but outside of that, “Afterlife” falls flat. Mutoid Man though do get back on track with “Open Flame”, and start sounding really focused again. I actually really dig some of the cleaner and more melodic vocals here among the sheer chaos going on in the background. “Open Flame” absolutely works for the band. I love the seriously “off the walls” guitars and the seriously fantastic drum work, overall this has been a great album as far as instrumentals go. Mutoid Man end this album off with “Bandages”, and boy do I ever love this very slow paced and cinematic intro. It seriously gives this one a very epic feel, I honestly can’t think of a better way they could have ended off this album. It’s slow, but it’s patient and has some great ground work. It’s done so well in fact, that every time a new instrumental is added as the track moves forward slowly has me completely invested. It’s just heavy enough for this one to keep it’s metal feel. It’s an album that I’m sure a lot of people won’t like, but I think it’s the heartfelt and epic ending this album needed.
Rating: 7.9/10
Give A Listen To: “Melt Your Mind”, “Kiss Of Death”, “Bandages” “War Moans”
Overall Thoughts: This is Mutoid Man's most focused and well thought out album to date. Up until now, I saw what they were going for. But more times than not, I felt like the band was biting off a little bit more than they could chew, and were trying to blend way too many genres. This album however is fierce and creative, and shows Mutoid Man spitting out one great, straightforward metal track after another.
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