War From A Harlots Mouth

MMX

Written by: PP on 18/10/2010 21:34:29

German deathcore bruisers War From A Harlots Mouth are at it again on their third album "MMX" that'll drop in a couple of weeks' time from Lifeforce Records. Much work and effort has been placed into ironing out their biggest problem throughout time, that of forgettable song structures that made a quick first impression but lacked lasting value almost entirely, and to an extent they have succeeded in that mission on "MMX". The grindcore / deathcore hybrid format is still prevalent in the band's music, but the previously strong jazz-influences have been toned down to a great extent in order to remove the "weird jazz deathcore band" tag, replacing it with "competent deathcore band" instead.

The inclusion of jazz now seems natural and gentle, as seen in "To Age And Obsolete", where heavy deathcore pounding and screaming subtly settles into a much quieter and funky ambiance, only to pick up shortly after in an organic manner. You might recall moments from "In Shoals" where the same emblem felt more like a stop-start sequence rather than a well designed and implemented sequence of differing influences. Elsewhere, where the jazz is dropped altogether, such as on "The Increased Sensation Of Dullness", the band fires on all cylinders but now has an extra layer of melody embedded, with an old Gwen Stacy reminiscant chorus scream making it one of the better tracks on the record, though of course a lot more chaotic and insane in nature. "The Polyglutamine Pact" seems to follow this trend, though here the jazzy bass-lines at the beginning of the song are excellent, and the mellower instrumental sections complete a very decent track overall. Another solid cut to take note of is "C.G.B. Spender", where the vocal lines are among the catchiest War From A Harlots Mouth have written to date. Maybe not as insta-catchy as their "Fighting Dwarves With Keytars", but not too far behind either.

The record is just over 32 minutes long, which is pretty much an ideal length for an album like "MMX". The songs are short and sweet, pack one hell of a punch to them, and are finally differentiated enough to not make the entire album sound like one monotonous jazzcore mess (here I'm referring to sophomore reocrd "In Shoals", of course). I'm still not quite sure whether the change is large enough to gather equal amounts of interest as their more mechanical-sounding US peers, but that said, definitely a step in the absolutely correct direction from these guys, kept me well interested throughout.

7

Download: Spineless, C.G.B. Spender, The Increased Sensation Of Dullness
For the fans of: Ephel Duath, Gwen Stacy (in a jazzy chaos version), Salt The Wound
Listen: Myspace

Release date 01.11.2010
Lifeforce Records

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