(We present Wil Cifer‘s intriguing review of an album by the Chicago band meth. that was released last Friday by Prosthetic Records.)
Imagine a band that does not feel the need to adhere to any of the conventions we have heard a thousand times over from all the other bands that push the limits of heavy. Chicago’s meth. is such a band.
Less unsettling evil haunts their new album Shame than say a band like Portrayal of Guilt, who are not far removed from their sonic zip code. You can pinpoint the sub-genres they touch upon, such as the deliberate pound of dense distortion that could be called sludge. Most of their vocalist’s screams carry an anguish that is similar to what we hear from black metal vocalists. Yet unlike those bands, they do not just relegate themselves to doing it throughout the entirety of a song much less the entire album.
I often bring up a theory regarding darkness being a factor in music that equates to heaviness just as effectively as a wall of a double bass or tuning down several whole steps below standard tuning. It is, however, easier to dial in a sound in the studio or by watching YouTube videos on how to get a mean metal guitar tone. This easier, softer way yields results similar to the masses who are going a more tangible route than using their instruments to express feelings of unease that society encourages numbing-out with the limitless distractions provided. This band knows how to derive the sounds they need from their instruments, but they also know how to use their instruments as a therapeutic vehicle to expel what is disturbing them.
Black metal bands who create from a place of honestly honoring darkness can also touch upon a similar intersection of emotional bleakness, however meth. part ways with black metal bands in the intentions, as this is more of a cathartic summoning of inner work where black metal is a worship of darkness. If forced to slap a sub-genre on this, it could be called blackened hard-core. There are some of the familiar methods of metal like chaotic blast beats infused into what they do, though when applied to the songs it is without the atmospheric lubrication that black metal allows with its hypnotic buzz.
Often with bands who fall on the more extreme side of the spectrum, you are stunned by the sheer heaviness, and a couple of songs into the albums have to stop and ask “But can you write a song?”. These guys put enough effort in their craft from the get-go, so that this question never arises even in the face of their tortuous instrumentation of harsh dissonance and morbid atmosphere, to stop me before such a question needs to be raised. On a song like “Given” they attack your ears with something that resembles bizarre atmospheric hardcore. The vocals are a shouted chorus of gang vocals that is contrasted by a great deal of brooding spaciousness. This is something that does not sound like everyone else so I have nothing but respect for that.
They are more technical sounding than you might expect with the off-time stuff they throw at you. The tribal nature of the drums and the more spoken vocal performance on the title track create an almost industrial feel that is thrown against hard-core. I like the woozy ebb and flow of this crazy song. The last song hammers you with a raw noisy edge. The vocals shifted in a low guttural death-like growl. Though not being a band to find themselves easily pinned down there is a flourish of just screaming jabbing into the song.
This is the musical equivalent to an art-house horror movie where instead of gore, you are given surreal glances at things that are unsettling and disturbing enough to make you uneasy, and still returning for multiple viewings to figure it all out. If you value music that is experimental and heavy then you owe it to yourself to check out this beautifully ugly album.
https://lnk.to/meth.
https://methil.bandcamp.com/album/shame
https://www.facebook.com/methnoise/