Mutual Hostility announces its debut album.
Formed in 2020 in the USA, the band comprising Dan Gates (guitar/bass, Fully Consumed, ex-Ton), Adam Rogers (vocals) and Eric Frabotta (drums, Stresslord) released their debut EP the same year before signing to Lethal Scissor Records in 2023 for the release of Inhuman Anguish.
To get us into the swing, the band kicks off with Exordium, a one minute-and-a-half-long instrumental introduction featuring jerky but catchy riffs, before letting vocals join the rhythm on Reality Lens. Raw groovy influences and a technical approach perfectly blend together on this Old School Death Metal-rooted sound, which still benefits from a relatively clean and modern mix, especially on the devastating final moshpart which leads us into Unknown Echoes. The track gives us a brief moment of respite with its introductive sample, then the band suddenly crushes us with a true steamroller, which barely slows down to let a solo offer us a touch of diversity before Lie in Wait takes over with a new frantic rhythm that won’t spare us. Musicians still take care to include a few cutting harmonics to their heavy riffs, before the complexity of Myth Through Time hypnotizes us with its simpler but equally effective parts under beastly howls. Faces In The Walls follows with a lively, aggressive rhythm that can also slow down to become more heady before accelerating again to unfold its full power, then the band segues into Black Vault and its massive Slam Death influences. The solo once again barely tempers this wave of unleashed rage, picking up again immediately afterwards, leading us to Biorhythm and its raw riffs, albeit with dissonant touches towards the center of the track. Unfortunately, the album has already come to an end with Denouement, which adopts the same technique as the introduction to offer us a final wave of violence before coming to an abrupt halt.
If you’re looking for violence with an Old School feel and a massive sound, Mutual Hostility can deliver. The band never hesitates to inject a more complex touch to certain parts, while letting Inhuman Anguish relentlessly string moshparts together.
90/100