Corrupt Moral Altar are angry. No doubt about that. And anger is an energy. Their debut album, ‘Mechanical Tides’ is abrim with energy and positively explodes with anger at every thrashed chord, every last blastbeat, every throat-wrecking scream of the way. But what makes Mechanical Tides such a great album is that it shows CMA to be a band who do shades of anger.
Father Tongue is a thrashing frenzy of noise that crash-lands at under three minutes in duration and makes for a fiery start to the album: it’s followed by a very different kind of metal rage: ‘Blood Harmony’ is a bass-heavy grinding dirge that trudges its way through a deep furrow of oppression.
‘Die Glocke’ is straight down the line high octane heavy rock, cranked up to eleven. ‘Wire Mother’ is seven minutes of doomy sludge, that’s immediately blown a way in a squall of screaming vitriol in the shape of the whirlwind noise that is ‘Gin Dreams’.
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‘Mechanical Tides’ is not an easy album to get into by virtue of the fact it doesn’t confirm to any one template or genre, and it’s all the better for it. It is merciless and relentless in its fury, but it’s by no means monotonous. ‘Closed Casket’ is pure grind, while ‘Sweet Talk’ is ball-bustin’, terrace-chantin’, punch ‘em up metal. ‘Admit Defeat’ reveals a much more sensitive side to the band before it crashes into post-hardcore grunge territory while pouring emotion.
Ultimately, ‘Mechanical Tides’ is a monstrously aggressive album that sees CMA lay their cards out straight and position themselves as prime purveyors of gnarly guitar abrasion.
Corrupt Moral Altar Online
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