Sargent House Us レコード& CD

Review: Constantly cryptic, aesthetically absurd, and musically unhinged to the point of smothering compression, harshcore dissonance and synthetic whimsy, semi-anonymous collective The Armed have garnered legions of equally endeared yet bewildered followers, thanks to their unique brand of methodical, chaotic, hyper-punk experimentation, which was formulated across 2015's Untitled and the electro-fury of 2018's Only Love, before peaking/imploding on the majorly complex Ultrapop; ranked as one of Juno's top albums of 2021. Enlisting help from a myriad of collaborators including Ben Chisholm (Chelsea Wolfe), Converge's Jacob Bannon, Justin Meldal-Johnsen (Beck, Deafheaven), and Boygenius member Julien Baker, to name a small handful, Perfect Saviors promises to see The Armed reach for full-scale stadium rock grandiosity, whilst retaining their endlessly elaborate and intimidating level of caustic sonic craft and abandon.

Review: The psych-rock metalcore hybrid supergroup trio of Cave In vocalist/guitarist Stephen Brodsky, Converge drummer Ben Koller and High On Fire bassist Jeff Matz, make their long awaited return on the excellent third full-length Mutants. Their follow up to 2017's War Moans, the album marks the first since the departure of founding bassist Nick Cageao, yet marches undeterred into their usual maelstrom melting pot of heavy music, which appears to be the only requirement for sonic inclusion on a Mutoid Man record. Drawing on elements of prog, psych, thrash, groove, hardcore and hard rock, this is a passion project in the most evident sense, and the creative chops of all three seasoned veterans are on full display as they smash through genre parameters and play up the camp, cheese and heft in simultaneous abandon.