Strip aside the commuter core of Luxembourg (both French and German workers swarm over the border to the world’s richest country: based on per capita GDP if you’re into your learning) and there’s a real quaint feel to the tiny country. There’s one point in Luxembourg City at which you can look over a small valley and see what is best described as a fairytale land: rich greenery, turrets and pastel colours. It’s beautiful and calming. What then did this country do to deserve the absolute aural barrage that is Mutiny On The Bounty?
‘Danger Mouth’ is the debut album from the Luxembourgish quartet and, poor title aside, is an ogre of a record, mixing elements of the post-hardcore scene with complex metal/prog guitars and a gnarly punk rock mentality. It’s mathcore (ish) without being conceitedly over intelligent, hardcore without being too screamy and melodic without ever getting close to being syrupy. Take the succinct snap shot that is ‘Continents’ and ‘The Art of Escapology’: within these two tracks the band manages to showcase a highly developed harmonious sound in the former before smashing the cobwebs away with the explosive energy and ferocity of the latter.
‘Go Hide Your Neck (They’ve Sharpened Teeth)’ with its gloriously decadent title is perhaps the most accessible song on the album, managing to sound immediate, layered and forceful in one fell swoop. It’s slap bang in the middle of two out of three of the album’s instrumentals, which go a long way to showing off the musical talent on offer here as well as altering the pace of the record as a whole. This is by no means a furious race to the finish, more a mix of sharp sprints and rest periods. A marathon if you will.
If you like your music intellectual but still hooky as hell, you could do far worse than picking up this little number from Big Scary Monsters. With any luck the accompanying live show, which you can catch in August if you can’t make the few dates this weekend, will live up to what is a concrete record.
Alex