Mutoid Man's 2013 debut EP Helium Head was a genuine surprise. Its raw, in-your-face, full-tilt boogie of hardcore punk, mathy, angular death metal, and reverb-laden prog were 18 minutes of adrenaline rock. Written by guitarist and vocalist
Stephen Brodsky (mastermind of
Cave In) and drummer
Ben Koller (
Converge,
All Pigs Must Die), they'd recorded most of their parts on four-track and asked Nick Cageao (a live sound engineer) to dub bass parts. It proved his entry into the band. Since then they've functioned as a three-piece, writing and recording in the studio as well as live, which makes the music on
Bleeder, their debut full-length, gel. Don't expect to hear the same muddy sound here.
Mutoid Man enlisted
Kurt Ballou as producer, and based on his other work behind the glass, he has his own ideas about sound.
Bleeder is cleaner but it's just as heavy. One can even argue that the sonic expansion adds to its heft. Check the pre-release track "Reptilian Soul," where the boundaries between hardcore, hard rock (à la
Kyuss) and prog metal vanish. Opener "Bridgeburner" commences with the rhythm section in a plodding drone. It gives way to a mad sprint when
Brodsky's guitar and (clean) vocals enter. His twinned leads create a hooky spiraling riff, but
Koller's drumming never backs off. In the last third, the riff changes and the rhythm section pushes
Brodsky's guitar to the brink in knotty death metal. Less than two minutes in length, "Surveillance" is as manic as
Meshuggah, with
Brodsky's vocals moving from a wailing clean bellow to a snarling growl. It gives way to "Beast" (also under two minutes), a perfect, unholy union of breakdown-laden prog metal and hardcore, with spiky shards of lead guitar cutting up the backdrop as the rhythm section duel with one another for dominance. "Deadlock" showcases an aural war between stoner and prog metal. The bridge is a tight melody that allows for loose, punchy riffs and vamps.
Brodsky's screaming vocal within them serves as an intro to mathy instrumental passages. The title track closes the album and is the set's longest at over five minutes.
Brodsky's banshee wailing is offset by a thudding, nearly swinging tom-tom and snare; Cageao's bassline creates a low-tuned, visceral, counterpoint melody as
Brodsky's guitars signal dynamic and harmonic changes. His vocals (not too far removed from
Geddy Lee's during
Rush's
2112 period) soar above a web of blues-tinged stoner and prog metal. At only 29 minutes and change,
Bleeder goes by in a seeming blue the first time through. But there is simply so much going on in its ever-changing (never boring) musical landscape that it will likely take a dozen listens to fully absorb it all.
Ballou's production adds to both the ambition and achievement of execution in
Mutoid Man's attack.
Bleeder is one of the best outsider metal albums of the year. ~ Thom Jurek