MUTANK – Think Before You Think (2024) | Album / EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine

MUTANK
Think Before You Think

Boonsdale (2024)
Rating: 7/10

A dizzy decade after their 2014 debut album M.E.C.H. Metal, Montreal, Canada-based crossover gang Mutank breaks the silence with a new ten-song full-length platter. It’s impossible to compare the brace of releases due to the distance between them, so in a sense this is Mutank starting afresh with a current line-up of Stephen Reynolds (vocals and bass), Chris Nascimben and Costa Skoulikas (guitars), and Ahmed Saad (drums).

The result here is some chunky, old school thrashcore which kicks off with the six-minute ‘Illuminatus’, a song that plods like a doomy Slayer before the combo embarks on a steady moshing groove. It’s relatively simple punk-laced thrash with strong choppy vocals that wouldn’t be out of place on some mid-80s obscure metal record.

It’s a solid way to start an album but it is also evidence of too many long songs. ‘Payback’, even with its busy percussion, could do with a few minutes shaved off the 5:24 running time. The same could also be said of ‘Running Reds’ (6:27), ‘Metalheads For Hire’ (5:38) and a few others. Even so, this is still a riotous affair boasting some killer mid-tempo riffs (‘All Against All’) alongside bursts of pace (‘Abortron’). However, for the most part this is quite steady in its journey, such as with the opening strains of ‘Metalheads For Hire’, although it soon transforms into quite a bestial seething heap of blackened wickedness. Meanwhile, ‘Channel Change’ begins like some cool traditional metal offering with a sweet crisp solo before resorting to a maniacal punky thrust of jabbing riffs and vocal retorts.

After several spins I appreciated more some of the lower, less visible tricks the band offer. For instance, a few jarring chords here and there with wisps of melody, and yet all uncomplicated and easy to digest. While not as robust, confrontational or rebellious as a lot of crossover artists, Mutank’s long awaited sophomore album is still a welcome return from a band that I can only hope will become more prolific with their output.

Neil Arnold

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