Album review: Mudhoney's "Digital Garbage"

MUDHONEY

*Digital Garbage*

(Subpop)

Mudhoney is mad as hell and isn’t going to take it anymore. No political or social topic is off limits on the 10th studio album from these grunge legends. Singer Mark Arm seems to take aim at Trump supporters and other vapid types on “Hey Neanderfuck” and “Paranoid Core,” but the most scathing criticism is left for hypocritical Christians (“21st Century Pharisees”), social media whores (“Kill Yourself Live”) and mass murderers: Arm pleads over and over again on “Please Mr. Gunman”: “Before you kill us dead forever...consider our afterlife / We’d rather die in church.” Even climate-change deniers get called out on “Prosperity Gospel”--kicking off with the declaration “Fuck the planet, screw your children / Get rich, you win”--and “Next Mass Extinction,” with a harmonica lead-in to these cynical thoughts: “Don’t worry your head / the earth will see peace / the world won’t end cause we will be / replaced by nothing in the next mass extinction.” Musically, the band’s superfuzz/bigmuff sound reverbs as good as ever, with opener track “Nerve Attack” sounding like a song from 1991’s “Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge.” “Kill Yourself Live,” a sardonic command to those addicted to social media “likes,” features the most satisfying instrumental progression, thanks in part to an organ riff backbone among the guitar chord progressions and angsty themes.

8/10

-Jason Scales
This review is published in the December 2018 issue of Illinois Entertainer magazine. Click link and navigate PDF to page 28.

Album review: High On Fire's "Electric Messiah"

HIGH ON FIRE

*Electric Messiah*

(E1 Music)

No metalhead seems to be working harder than guitarist/singer-songwriter Matt Pike: Fresh off the success of his other band’s first full-length release in 20 years (Sleep’s “The Sciences”) comes the eighth studio album from his more linear outfit. Opening track “Spewn From The Earth” and title track “Electric Messiah” are uptempo burners with a relentless drumline and fuzzed out power-chords reverberating to the point where it’s not clear where notes begin or end. Pike’s beyond gruffy vocal delivery is lost in this sludgy mix to hypnotic effect. Mid-tempo tracks like “Steps Of The Ziggurat/House Of Enlil” (clocking over nine minutes) and “Sanctioned Annihilation” allow space for the tribal drumming to build. The latter track features the most rhythmic instrumentation with its use of double-bass drumming and syncopated chord strumming. “The Witch And The Christ” is another textured and multi-tempo arrangement that allows drummer Des Kensel to lead the way amid Pike’s fully throated declarations. Where Sleep’s droning ethos causes introspection and daydreaming, High On Fire is the much-needed rude awakening that always seems to follow.
Link to print version of this review that appeared in the January 2019 issue of Illinois Entertainer. Navigate PDF to page 24.

7/10

-Jason Scales