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MORDRED
Volition EP

Self-released (2020)
Rating: 6/10

Around 30 years ago, my beloved Liverpool Football Club, a team I’ve supported since childhood, won their last top flight English league trophy; the old First Division title. During that 1989 / 90 season, San Francisco, California-based experimental thrashers Mordred released their brilliant debut album Fool’s Game. And as I write this review, Liverpool has just won the league again, and their first Premiere League title. I should be buzzing, but the anticlimactic feel has been overwhelming due to a world in turmoil.

Mordred has just released a brand new EP, their first record since June 1994’s The Next Room, and once more I should be buzzing, but again there’s that anticlimactic feeling.

Mordred were one of my favourite bands back in the late 80s / early 90s, and their second opus In This Life (1991) remains in my top ten records of all time. However, like many bands they lost their way and eventually split in 1995. In the 00s I kept a rather clunky blog going in their memory; I was keeping their flag flying, never letting their name die. I was never expecting them to reform and tour, but they did… so I must admit to a degree of anxiety in reviewing this new four-track EP.

I kept telling myself that the disappointment was due to the current state of the world, a planet zapped by a virus and drained by government scaremongering, but no. While I expect Mordred die-hard fans to be salivating over the new release, probably due to blind and somewhat arse-licking excitement, I’m also expecting band members – who I have met over the years – to be banging on my door when they read this review. But I also hope they’ll take my words as constructive, because my reviews, unlike many, are always brutally honest.

So, where do we begin? Mordred – with the exception of drummer Jeff Gomes, who replaced Gannon Hall – features the same line-up responsible for the aforementioned In This Life album and the excellent 1992 Vision EP.

This a bunch of guys with no boundaries due to their influences, and it’s worth noting that Mordred has always been a hard act to pin down sound wise, in spite of the metallic crunch.

Of course, since the halcyon days much has changed, particularly with technology, and the members – Scott Holderby (vocals), Danny White and James Sanguinetti (guitars), Art Liboon (bass) and Aaron “Pause” Vaughn (keyboards and turntables) – have matured.

Mordred have been teasing fans over the last few years with mentions of new work, and so this new EP is very much that – a teaser, a snippet of what’s to come with the new album The Dark Parade. However, I certainly hope that the full-length record fares better than Volition, because the reality here is that this four-tracker lacks bite, snap, edge and conviction.

Now, bearing in mind I’ve listened to this EP at least 30 times, it just feels a tad forced, rather glossy, and formulaic. Opener ‘Not For You’ begins with a solid enough groove, with Pause’s scratchboards addding extra levels of hipness, but by the time Scotty Holderby’s chops emerge over a thrashing chug I’m left underwhelmed – although I’m sure the track will work better live.

Mordred were always light years ahead went it came to fusing metal, rap etc., but since so much has suffocated our ears and brains since the 90s and the hideous nu metal charge, I don’t feel as if ‘Not For You’ stands out from it all, especially when I’ve heard unreleased Mordred tracks that fare so much better. Sure, the political commentary is edgy, as is the nifty lead that squirms its way through the chug, but like so many bands who’ve reformed the dynamics seem a tad off… or maybe it’s just me, still revelling in those constantly fresh grooves of, say, ‘Falling Away’, ‘West County Hospital’ etc.

But, opinions are like arseholes, and everybody has one and mine is that ‘Not For You’ is not the kaleidoscopic face-ripper I was expecting. So imagine then my disappointment then at the stripped back and rather soulless modern rap / grime trickle of ‘What Are We Coming To’. Damn, the effect on Holderby’s vocal, the all too modern bland beat, and even Pause can’t save this from being a generic contemporary rap song that at any other time I’d expect to see some Tik Tok idiot prancing along to. Maybe I’m just getting old, but again I expected something more to this rather basic, no frills composition – especially knowing Pause’s credentials and influences.

Next up is the metallic strut of ‘The Love Of Money’. Now to be honest, if I’d never grown up with the likes of The Organization et al then maybe I’d be salivating over this track far more than I am, but it is the best track so far. The mid-pace guitar, the steady drum thud, and Scotty sounds great; his buzzing vocal sneer harkening back to those halcyon days of In This Life and Vision. But for me, the production seems a tad thin; Art Liboon’s bass doesn’t seem to judder, the drums lack oomph, and again there’s that underwhelming feeling however loud I turn it up. Even so, as expected, Mordred as a unit brings catchiness to the tune.

But what really puts the trio of previously mentioned tracks into perspective, is the familiar strains of ‘The Baroness’; a song that’s been around a while, having previously been released as a digital single back in 2015. ‘The Baroness’ continues to showcase all that is great about this band – the snappy vocal display, the infectious riff, the killer scratches and general feel fusing together a Public Enemy-styled attitude with all that we know and love about Mordred’s sublime sound.

Lyrically the flow is as cool as ice, taking the Mordred sound above and beyond what everyone else was attempting in the 90s. And what I mean by this is that every man and his dog were attempting hip hop and metal hybridisation, but the results were cringe-worthy, like Body Count, with dull as dishwater riffs and jives. Mordred were always outside of that realm and a step ahead. So I guess while I’m always appreciative of the hip hop slant, and as much of In This Life and Vision proved, it wasn’t necessary all the time. Old tracks such as ‘West County Hospital’, ‘Downtown’, ‘Esse Quam Videri’, ‘Crash’ maintained their own levels of diversity and unpredictability, and in a sense, within this EP, I don’t hear that. In fact, I almost know what’s coming next.

But hey, I’m here, as a reviewer and a mega fan, to critique and add my voice to what is essentially a rather tepid return. On the stage however, the tracks may take on a bestial form and prove me wrong. I dunno, something just doesn’t sit right with me. My issues also stretch towards the cover art too, but that’s just a personal thing, as are the rest of my quibbles and praises.

However, before the band starts to prepare the electric chair for me, please remember that I’m just being protective and honest towards a band that changed my life. I was there phoning up Noise Records to complain when Scotty Holderby left the band in 1993, and I was there collecting every live gig, bootleg, unreleased track and chasing after every obscure rap act DJ Pause mentioned. Maybe, just maybe, Volition is not for me during a time when everything else feels kinda underwhelming; it’s just not been the pick-me-up I expected… though it might be for you? But, and to quote Ozzy Osbourne, “I love you all”. Now, where is ‘Can’t Help’, ‘Crash’, ‘Queen Of A Broken Throne’ etc?

Neil Arnold

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