Although extrapolating from anecdotal, personally-experienced trends is pretty much a big no-no, I have to say that of all of the punk and hardcore records I’ve been sent for review so far this year, very few have been lyrically concerned with the world around them except as metaphor. They’ve mostly been introspective rather than outward-looking. That’s no bad thing in itself, but as someone who was drawn to punk rock as a teen because of its fiery, passionate potential to engage with the larger ills of the world, it is a little disappointing.
In contrast to that, the two noise-rock bands who’ve sent me material to review – United Sons of Toil and now Cincinnati’s Mala In Se – have both been lyrically concerned with the world around them. USoT’s Marxist politics came through clearly; Mala In Se, by contrast, focus more on animal rights and environmental themes, but there are songs critical of government corruption and conspiracy present here. I’ve not actually got a hold of the lyrics so I can’t go into them in any more depth, which is a shame, but the music should come foremost in a music review anyway.
Mala In Se is the three-piece’s first release, and it sees them exhibiting their cluttered but taut take on rock/metal noise hybrids. Despite the cacophanous volleys of noise seeming to threaten to overwhelm the listener each instrument remains distinct; the production has done a fine job of bringing every component of these songs out. The vocals are perhaps the most buried element of the band’s compositions, which suits the sound well.
One particular highlights is track two, ‘Disease Auction’, built around a horrible-sounding (in a good way) riff, multiple vocal strands and some subtle lead. Then there’s ‘Devil’s Dung’ to follow, which opens with a haunting, drawn-out intro before kicking into a fat thrash metal-esque riff and thudding drumbeat. It steadily builds over its hefty duration, growing toward apocalyptically big noisecore violence, before dropping into a delicate breakdown featuring chiming percussion with a faintly Far East vibe. (The band’s name, “Mala In Se”, apparently means “wrongs in themselves; acts morally wrong; offenses against conscience”; the press release doesn’t specify in which language this is so but it still underlines their thematic concerns and the geographical origins of some sources of inspiration.)
A few other likes are the thrashy, ferociously intense ‘Stay Afloat’, the scrappy and affectedly messy ‘Portions for Trade’, and the lower-key, dischordant but somewhat bluesy ‘Conjoin’. I did find that the album blends together a lot and that I don’t find parts of it memorable enough to immediately tell apart from others, but that’s also true when I listen to Lightning Bolt records and it doesn’t change the impact they have. Yep, all told Mala In See is a pretty cool slice of noise rock and definitely one for fans of ear abuse to check out.
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