I picked this EP out of curiosity. The fact that it’s short and from a band I’ve never heard of is important, but the bottom line is: HPGD aren’t known for releasing shitty albums. I was in the mood for some crazy cool Grind with Slam and Death Metal elements. There’s even some Black Metal screaming thrown in to boot.
Amalgamated States is Mucosal’s debut EP, and it’s a bit rough around the edges, but you can tell that a lot of heart and soul went into the creation of this debut and honestly, it’s not bad at all… It’s good at what it’s wanting to get across.
Starting things off with “Denied, Defiled, Disposed” pretty well sums up the ideological direction that Mucosal is going for the jugular on; this is a fucking dragged-across-concrete type of track. It is Neanderthal slow at first before it goes all Grinding Punk near the track’s end.
There’s a sense of Extreme Noise Terror and Terrorizer in the next track, “Egregore”; it’s a pissed off mother fucker of a song. With an opening sample that is too good not to mention, this is solid to the bone, yo. Then there’s “Programmer Crashed Race,” which is about as insane as you can imagine a song with a title like that should be. Just balls to the bloodstained wall intensity and violence.
These songs don’t overstay their welcome, either. Short and to the goddamn point with no pussyfooting or anything lame like that. Guess what “The Old Hate” is about; I’ll give you a minute in case the intro doesn’t give it away. This is a Punky Grind bastard, Napalm Death-ish with a bit of Broken Bones and Raw Noise extremity. The message is clear as day.
Next and final track is “Amalgamated States” and it struts around like the guy trying to get the fucking pit going. It’s got skronk, some crazy as fuck drumming, and some reverb-laden Slayer-ish soloing. It has a very peaceful outro, however, and I’m assuming it’s because you want to play it again, so it leads into the beginning of the album.
Sporting sick as all hell cover art and a suitably grimy production, Amalgamated States is a promising EP from a brand new and hungry band. They’re not reinventing anything, but then they don’t need to.
If you think Napalm Death, Terrorizer and Extreme Noise Terror are the absolute bees knees then I urge you to pick up Amalgamated States. Thank me later.
