There has been a lot of good bands hailing from the north of Europe in this last couple of years. Right now i can think of Hexis, Logn, This Gift Is A Curse, Whorls and a few more. This whole new breed of bands have the ability of absorbing a lot of different genres and molding them into a very distinguished sound that they can call their own. One of those successful “case studies” are Iceland’s Muck.
Muck consists of four passionate young guys in love with dissonant and cutting edge sounds. Being around already for a couple of years, after some successful tours and an EP, “Vultures”, released back in 2007 the hiatus has been broken with their brand new album called “Slaves”. An album that sets the bar even higher within the Icelandic metal/hardcore scene. I got to know about Muck from my friend Ægir from, the also icelandic band, Logn, who totally recommended this band to me.
I must confess that, to me, in nowadays it’s very hard to be impressed with a band that sounds original. And it’s always easy, at a first audition, to tell what are the influences to their sound. I’m pretty sure that Muck have their musical influences, it’s part of their education as musicians. But the first reaction i got as i heard “Slaves”, was that i was facing something different, something new and fresh. A burst of creativity exhaled in every of its pores.
The first track on this album, “Now”, is a weird intro where we can hear on the background, an old record player spinning in a fairly drunk way, a very dysfunctional and broken record. It’s almost a prediction of what we’re about to hear…
Suddenly, without no warning, in the next track, “I Stand Alone”, Muck throw their complex arithmetic slab of low-fi/chaotic punk/hardcore splashed with some very cutting edge screamo influences. To classify Muck’s sound, just imagine a more low-fi, punk version of The Dillinger Escape Plan mixed with Kaospilot and in the middle add some Converge for example. All of these bands have in common this mathematically complex sound equations that are literally thrown into the air, adding and subtracting sharp riffs between screams and growls while the drum just goes postal in the background.
Tracks like “I Stand Alone”, “Island”, “Mother” or “Circles” are authentic bursts of creativity, making this band one of the freshest bands i’ve heard in a while. But in the middle of this organized chaos, there’s also room for us to breathe with some short interlude, instrumental tracks like in “Wake”, where the band uses this movie excerpt that sounds familiar to me, but the name just won’t get out of my mouth.
If you’re looking for something new and fresh within’ the genre, then i totally advise you to take a listen to this great young band. Stay tuned because these dudes are going to have new tracks available very, very soon on gogoyoko.
“Slaves” is already available, you can preview and buy it at a very cheap price, just click on the link.
After a successful U.S tour, Muck are on the road again. They’re currently touring here in Europe, check the dates and their moves through their Facebook.
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