When it comes to heavy music, niche politics exercise a disproportionately powerful role in shaping a band’s musical identity. There's an obsession with compartmentalizing every last guitar lick or drum beat and planning the listening experience accordingly, almost as if by algorithm. This approach offers an easy way to establish distinctions between artists, but it comes at the expense of a reduced appreciation of metal's liminal spaces and atypical arrangements. Case in point: Brooklyn's visionaries of filth Mutilation Rites. However strong the Darkthrone worship may have shone through on Empyrean, the band's excellent 2012 debut, their blackened riffs were ultimately overshadowed by their rabid, punkish attitude, unpredictable percussion, and cross-pollinating song-craft.
Two years later, Mutilation Rites return with Harbinger, their second album. Like its predecessor, the new record splits its time between lengthy, metamorphosing epics and thunderous rabble-rousers, with nary a synth or sample in sight. This time around, however, improved sonics and sharpened songwriting streamline the band's venture into the void, recalling a garagey Gorgoroth at some points and a filthier Converge at others. Frequently, their smoke-enshrouded roar resonates with a sneaky immediacy reminiscent of early Mastodon; with its unstoppable guitar hook and seething, grunge-y coda, “Contaminate” is easily Mutilation Rites' “Blood and Thunder”, while closing dirge “Tactical Means of Ouroboros” would have felt right at home on Remission. Like the Atlanta legends, the quartet exercise mind and muscle equally, striking a difficult balance between galloping polyrhythms and beefy guitars on opener “Black Pyramid”. At the same time, they don't stick around to stargaze for too long; where there's a mournful melodic seep (as on “Exhaling and Breathing In”), a shuddering screech from vocalist George Paul never trails far behind.
Harbringer’s gut-lurching thrills rely heavily on drummer Justin Ennis, formerly of fellow Brooklynites Tombs. Guided by some arcane intuition, he carves out the violent spaces where the band wreaks havoc and detonates them as he sees fit. On “Suffer the Children”, his kit ricochets between black, death, d-beat, doom, and grindcore temples, repeatedly threatening the track's inevitable collapse across six pulverizing minutes. As the blast-beats bear down on the second half, the song’s kinetic force strengthens in a caustic crescendo that defies logic, endowing the din with unexpected depth. It's a bit of percussive wizardry on the part of engineer Kevin Bernsten, best known for his work with speed demons like Magrudergrind. Snare, cymbal, and bass each carry twice as much weight in his mix, making Ennis’ fills—rather than the riffs of Paul and Michael Dimmitt—the focal points of songs like "Contaminate” and “Gravitational Collapse”.
In spite of their motions towards transcendence, Mutilation Rites’ complex racket is never accompanied by an elitist aftertaste. Considering their associations with the notoriously overachieving Brooklyn metal scene, that’s both a relief and a blessing—freedom to enjoy the adrenaline rush of Harbinger without getting bogged down by form or philosophy, the sound of four guys paying tribute to chaos the best way they know how.
