ALBUM REVIEW: Mordial – Car Bomb
New York mathcore maestro’s CAR BOMB don’t receive nearly the amount of praise that they deserve and have earned throughout their career. The quartet have left a trail of destruction in their wake since their inception in 2000 and their latest effort Mordial which is due for release on September 27th via Holy Roar Records is poised to defiantly prove that the genre didn’t die with THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN.
If you’ve ever had the pleasure of the aural assault CAR BOMB are capable of, Start is evidently the precursor to the ensuing explosion, easing you in with a tense atmosphere and discordant harmonics. This leads you straight into the brick wall that is Fade Out, which takes little time to commence audibly battering you. Ferocious screams mix into the bludgeoning riff work that occasionally transitions into some floaty melodic segments. Vague Skies commences with unnerving distortion which proceeds to slam your brain against the inside of your skull. The frightening thing about CAR BOMB is you truly have no idea what to expect next and at times you have to just submit to the chaos as you are allocated brief pockets of respite, this track is a great example of them flexing their experimental muscles as each twist and turn takes you down a different rabbit hole.
Scattered Sprites continues the syncopated lunacy as frontman Michael Dafferner conducts the unravelling chaos with scathing bellows laced with pure rage. There are very few opportunities to fully digest the unpredictable nature of this track as the guitar work particularly escalates in complexity. Dissect Yourself launches a multitude of insanity at you from every conceivable angle. Haunting melodic vocals seep in but are instantly cast aside by the additional craziness. Xoxoy feels slightly less demented than its counterparts as jarring riffs follow on from an initial instance of relative calm. Blastbeats grab of the track by the throat to keep the aggression at optimum levels but as things progress floating vocals take the edge off the fury.
HeLa continues to keep you in a perpetual state of unease with its perplexing tempo shifts and bone rattling ferocity. At times it feels as though Elliot Hoffman has acquired extra appendages with some of the intricate drum fills he unleashes. Blackened Battery follows suit throwing in bursts of rapid fire shredding for good measure. Dafferner continuously has the listener in the palm of his hand with his devastatingly diverse vocal onslaught. In the early going Mordial could quite easily be mistaken for an excerpt of Alice In Wonderland with its mechanical whirring and chiming. Just as you remotely consider letting your guard down it completely pulls the rug from underneath you with devilishly downtuned riffing that feels like being relentlessly pounded into the ground. In true CAR BOMB fashion, just as soon as you think you have the answer, they change the question as this track engulfs you in waves of baffling eccentricity that only they are capable of executing.
Considering the barbaric assault that his elapsed thus far, to say Eyecide dials the savagery up to the highest setting gives you an indication of what this track has in store. Wear sufficient protective clothing or your flesh might be ripped straight off of your bones. Remember where you left your migraleve as your head is going to be in bits afterwards. If you’re looking for a moment to catch your breath Antipatterns isn’t going to provide it but it does allow for some elements of melody to ease the pressure inbetween the blunt force trauma. Naked Fuse goes in for the final blow as round after round of crushing riffs refuses to subside. Frantic lead work leaves an emphatic stamp on one hell of a ride.
The technicality which comprises Mordial is jaw dropping even if you’re used to the unforgiving carnage which the Long Island outfit can provide. Whilst being a particularly challenging listen as all of your senses are bombarded throughout you can’t help but sit back and let the insanity take hold. Whilst many have attempted to follow in their footsteps, CAR BOMB haven proven time and time again that they are in a class of their own and this release has only cemented that fact even further.
Rating: 9/10
Mordial is set for release on September 27th via Holy Roar Records.
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