M.E.C.H. Metal

Once in a while, we get one of these albums that throw us back into time. Lead balls in tight leather pants, a wifebeater jacket, a dozen pins on it, and Daoust 301/501 shoes; this is what comes to my mind when I hear thrash metal from the late 1980′s. Rightfully, this uniform is still proudly worn by many Canadian thrash bands of the new generation, including Cauldron, Skull Fist or Midnight Malice. Although it seems to keep a distance from these attributes, Mutank nonetheless offers us an album that fits the tag.

Interesting enough, the album is called M.E.C.H. Metal, for Middle East Coast Heavy Metal–a reference to the Middle East and Atlantic provinces origins of the band members. With themes dipped in the heavy metal mindset (a little bit like Manowar’s lyrics), the titles and lyrics remind us (like it did in the 1980′s) that this is a genre meant to celebrate an underground but universal culture, one that bring us all together like blood brothers. With its fast and cheerful thrash, Mutank revives this historical metal era, while hightlighting the intemporal quality of the genre, as defined in the 1980′s.

M.E.C.H. Metal is fast. Of course, the dual guitars’ riffs are aggressive and complementary; and drums are as constant as the caterpillars tracks of a tank; but the album gets its real flavour via the pace of the songs and their short and simple structure. Ranging from 1:57 to 4:03, this is an album that explodes in our face in less than 25 minutes, with a remarkable intensity.

In short, this album is like a punch in the face. It however begs the question: what’s left after the hit? I doubt that M.E.C.H. Metal will become a benchmark for the genre, simply because Mutank is one of these many new thrash bands and because this album doesn’t bring any new water to the wheel. Both production and riffage are standard, although I can’t find anything weak in there. For these reasons, I think M.E.C.H. Metal will find a comfortable niche amongst the thrash metal community, but won’t make its way to a larger crowd. To conclude, I raise my beer to Mutank and suggest any fan of underground thrash to pick it up, in cassette or digital format.

“Mutank is against the law, those caught listening are sentenced to headbang for all time”.

Favorite tracks: “M.E.C.H. Metal”, “Minions”, “W.A.R.”, “Heavy Hand of the Doomsday Clock”, “Thrashback to the Future”.

-TheBlackHull
[Originally written for blog.metalmadeincanada.ca]