May 2022 Featured Release - The Revolution Edition

So just like that we find that a new month is upon us which of course means that we’ll be nominating a brand new monthly feature release for each clan. This essentially means that we’re asking you to rate, review & discuss our chosen features for no other reason than because we enjoy the process & banter. We’re really looking forward to hearing your thoughts on our chosen releases so don’t be shy.

This month's feature release for The Revolution, nominated by me (Shadowdoom9 (Andi)), is the 2019 4th album from New York-based djenty mathcore band Car Bomb, Mordial. This band, in my opinion, has made some of the most experimentally chaotic mathcore in the right way, and with their progressive/djent influences, it would be accurate to describe them as The Dillinger Escape Plan gone Meshuggah/Gojira. Mordial is their most recent album and one of their best to showcase that sound in all its aggressive glory. I sure would like to find this album getting good attention in the site, especially since all that talk about djenty/progressive death/mathcore recently.

https://metal.academy/releases/12977

I did my review, here's its summary:

Mathcore and many other "core" genres you just can't take with a grain of salt. You have to let your ears embrace the assault that would leave you hungry for more of its golden violence. If you thought these mathcore Long Islanders have reached their pinnacle on Meta, Mordial successfully adds more of the crushing power and maintains their perfect streak. There's also a bit of Deftones-like alt-metal influences with clean vocals, soft guitar, and cinematic synth, within the chaos of guitar meltdowns, hardcore breakdowns, and tons of time signature changes, more powerful than planet-destroying laser beams! The tempo can slow down without ever going out of sync. Mordial is a 5-star head-twisting mathcore tornado, that's what it is!

5/5

Recommended tracks: "Fade Out", "Scattered Sprites", "Dissect Yourself", "Blackened Battery", "Mordial", "Antipatterns"

For fans of: The Dillinger Escape Plan, Gaza, Gojira

I really enjoyed this feature Andi. It's certainly helped by an excellent production job which allows the chaotic music to jump out of the speakers at you as it should with all mathcore. The Meshuggah influence is obvious in the significant djent component of their sound. I really dig the harsh vocals which remind me very much of Phil Anselmo's screamier material. In fact, that's not the only hint at a Pantera influence with many of the djenty riffs leaning heavily on the groove metal superstars for inspiration as well. The clean vocals seem to be influenced by Deftones' Chino Moreno but aren't nearly as effective as the screams & are the clear weakness of the album in my opinion along with some overly ambitious rhythmic complexity that sees things crossing the chaos line by more than I'm comfortable with on tracks like "Naked Fuse". Still... Car Bomb are a quality outfit full of accomplished musicians & with an appropriate level of aggression & angst. What's not to love about that?

4/5