Written: 27th July 2024
Now three decades into their career, Mushroomhead show no signs of slowing down. Having come through the various Slipknot rivalries and comparisons some time ago, the band have focused on producing the best genre blending music and intense lyrics they can. With a line-up that features – alongside several long-term members - Dave “Gravy” Felton (after a twelve-year absence), now full-time member Jackie LaPonza, and new members Joe “Jenkins” Gaal, Scott Beck and Aydin Kerr, the nonet are preparing for the release of their ninth album Call The Devil.
Opening track Eye To Eye begins, surprisingly, with a few moments of Deliverance style banjo before igniting with heavy riffs, warning sirens and staccato drum rhythms. Mushroomhead transcend too many genres to simply dismiss them as nu-metal but Eye To Eye certainly has something of that atmosphere. It is a taut and well-structured opener that lyrically criticises outdared systems, pushes for change and conveys a sense of frustration and resignation in trying to connect with someone confined by their own expectations. Long gone past the writing on the wall / In spite of all the ways I try to reach you / Laid to waste inside your self-made cage / It’s not my job to try and fucking teach you.
As if to immediately signify the variety that is inherent throughout the album, Fall In Line assails with intense drums backed with electronic and industrial infusions. A combination of growling and clean vocals – from Scott Beck and LaPonza - tackle different parts of the track’s narrative, and a central section of haunting keys and half-whispered, half-snarled vocals adds a biting but darkly ethereal aura. On the end of a thousand knives / Crawl, along on the edge, survive / A million miles to go / This heavy load be stowed on me.
Emptiness begins with melodic but inauspicious keyboards as the mood of the album changes once again. During the first verse, the guitars initially strip back and Ryan Farrell’s bass lines pop from the mix. With an infectious chorus, Emptiness weaves its tale of dependency and self-destruction through the use of atmosphere including a restrained guitar solo and moments of solo keyboard motifs. Growling vocals combined with powerful clean vocals during the song’s conclusion underscore the internal struggle of the protagonist. We Don’t Care sees Steve Rauckhorst and Jackie LaPonza splitting the lead vocals and it is easy to imagine the chant like moments being popular in the live environment. Another engaging chorus and appealing hook find Mushroomhead combining heavier embellishments with hard rock.
UIOP (A Final Reprise) plays with eerie, unsettling carnival like musical patterns and lyrics narrating a grim story of judgement, punishment and existential despair. Blending surreal and ghoulish elements it portrays a vivid, irking narrative of downfall and the quest for redemption while the twisted, nightmarish music evokes the feel of a ghost train or haunted house at a macabre funfair. Such feelings are revisited on Decomposition, a slow tempo, ghostly vaudevillian ballad. Varied within its own length, the almost six-minute Grand Gesture never allows the listener to settle due to its often-changing character. Guitars attack and then peel away as plaintive piano led segments layer the track with different sensations.
As the album progresses, Prepackaged, Torn In Two, the menacingly truculent and experimental Hallelucination, and Hideous display the pugnacious hostility that dwells within some of Mushroomhead’s music. Full of aggressive, growling vocals; colossal chugging riffs; wailing guitars; and strident synth decorations, Hideous laments the diminishing rationale for existence as human actions become increasingly nihilistic.
Before the peculiar balance of regal majesty and vaudevillian theatrics of short instrumental closer Doom Goose, the epic Shame In A Basket sees Mushroomhead throwing caution to the wind and combining everything that has preceded it within one song. Beginning with the amalgamation of spectral nuances conjuring the sound of night-time in a deserted area with perturbing chords on the piano, the first minute of Shame In A Basket leaves the listener nervously anticipating something incendiary. However, as the threatening malevolence of the vocal begins, we begin a journey through the mind of a protagonist full of guilt, vengeance and societal despair. Put my shame in a basket / Some of it cracked, some of it’s cracked, most of it’s pure hatred / I put my name on your casket, signed my life away / How fantastic would it be to kill you all? With the opening verse repeated by Jackie LaPonza, the words appear even more chocked with turmoil and the desire for drastic action. The second time the lyrics ask How fantastic would it be to kill you all?, the key changes to a major and the dark, introspection is disturbingly at odds with the happier musical phrases. Three minutes in, crunching guitars and thunderous drums explode and we are in a different world completely. As the song unfolds, the chilling calm of the piano-led interludes vie for dominance with the combativeness of the full band’s bellicosity. Without ever threatening to become dull across its eight and half minutes, Mushroomhead toy with our emotions and ask for our commitment in following them on this skilfully crafted odyssey. It is the sort of track that will split the fanbase.
Call The Devil is an eclectic album that challenges the listener to dive into its variety. The band’s ability to blend elements of rock, metal, electro-industrial leanings and vaudeville creates a sonic adventure that engages throughout. The vocal performances stand out, with excellent contributions that range from bewitchingly harmonious to fiercely aggressive, adding depth and emotion to the music. Without doubt, there will be variation in the tracks preferred by different listeners and some metallheads might find the very variety Mushroomhead aim to create is what prevents them from enjoying the entire album. Some long term fans may also bemoan the changes in overall sound and approach over the years. This is not an album that consistently sounds like XIII - for example. Nevertheless, those willing to embrace everything that Call The Devil has to offer, will be rewarded with an album which demonstrates that while Mushroomhead do not claim to be the most original band in the world, they aim to conjure strong imagery while balancing power, phantasmal delicacy and inherent melody.
Call The Devil is released on 9th August 2024
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