Mutoid Man were born of a desire to have fun. Gathering musicians from the cream of American underground metal — notably Stephen Brodsky (Cave In) and Ben Koller (Converge) — the band cultivate a music at once learned and unbridled, where technicality serves pleasure rather than display. Mutants, hailed by the critics (an 83 average across eight reviews), offers a jubilant illustration.
Everything here goes fast. The riffs fly, the breaks chain together, pop melodies surge amid the chaos like bursts of laughter. Mutoid Man play with the codes of metal, noise rock and hardcore, twist them, recombine them, without ever taking themselves seriously — and it is precisely that lightness that makes their strength.
The critics hail the record’s contagious energy, its melodic generosity, the offhand virtuosity of musicians who have nothing left to prove and play for the sheer joy of playing. Beneath the playful surface, though, a real mastery surfaces: the compositions, seemingly spontaneous, are of watchmaker precision.
Mutants seeks neither depth nor revolution: it seeks the discharge, the adrenaline, the raw joy of heavy rock. And it attains it with an ease that commands admiration.
Verdict: 8. A ferocious, sunlit record reminding us that metal can be a party as much as an outlet. The pleasure of playing, in its pure state.
