Mutoid Man – Bleeder
- Written by Ben Macnair
If you add guitarist and vocalist Stephen Brodsky, drummer Benjamin Koller and bassist Nick Cageao together, you get Mutoid Man. You also get a lot of noise. Bleeder is not an album that is designed to be listened to quietly. From the opening track of ‘Bridgeburner’ to the closing title track, any casual listener will see that this is a band of serious intention, not to mention musicianship, and a seemingly easy knack of marrying musically strong ideas with production values that enhance the songs.
Bleeder is the follow up to their 2013 EP release Helium Head, which received good notices. Bleeder as an album blends a myriad of styles into a melting pot that is a breath of fresh air. The musicians work in other bands such as Converge, All Pigs Must Die and Cave In adds to the sonic maelstrom, but the musical template seems different, with all three players having an equal weight in the band. Mutoid Man do not appear to be a leader and two supporting players.
They are a heavy metal band, but they also include progressive elements within the soundscape, touching on bands like King Crimson during some of the more musically adventurous songs such as ‘Soft Spot In My Skull’, whilst they slow things down (relatively) for pieces such as ‘1000 Mile Stare’ and ‘Deadlock’.
One thing I have not touched on are the vocals. This is not pounding drums, bass and guitar, with unintelligible screaming over the top. A lot of care and attention has gone into the writing of the songs, and the singing style of Brodsky shows a lot of care, whilst the harmony vocals, although used sparingly, add a sheen to the music, that can sometimes be lacking in music that is this muscular.
So, although heavy metal is not really my thing, and I need to relax my ears for a while with some Val Doonican, I would recommend this album to fans of song-craft, and musicianship, with a strong constitution.