meth. - Mother of Red Light REVIEW

There is something undeniably alluring about abrasive music for me. Loud music of the heavier variety is utilized in many varied ways, however, the most common purpose is the conveyance of anger. When people often think and say that those who listen to metal are just channeling their feelings through music, I concur. Of course metal funnels my anger (or other negative emotions) into a concise music file that plays through my headphones - does classic rock not do this for nostalgia? Or pop for 'happiness?' Though metal also makes me merry - throwing on a prog album by Haken or Caligula's Horse is sure to liven up my day - for me, nothing compares to the euphoric absurdity of cranking my Sennheisers to maximum volume and throwing on a dissonant, destructive and belligerently heavy album; one with vocals that will make your throat sting, guitars that impair your hearing for the days to come, and drums which puncture your eardrums. Mother of Red Light is one of these albums. 

A vivid, broken and unyielding release, Chicago six-piece meth. have created an experience that is comparable to huddling in the corner of a dark room while being beaten with a blood-stained baseball bat as your nightmarish cries for help go completely unheard. Mathcore has not been pushed as hard as this since Gaza's I Don't Care Where I Go When I Die. If I owned a physical copy of this album, I would probably want to smash it, but not for hatred of it - rather, a devout love. Music does not often make me personally want to scream out in pain, but Mother of Red Light does. The screamo-influenced vocal performance is astonishing in the already calamitous mix of instrumentation that meth. provides on this release, providing everything from vicious shouted harshes to pained, muffled spoken word. While I am tempted to call this noisecore ala Through the Mirror-era Endon, the mathcore elements pull back the reins just enough to hold a semblance of organization in this chaotic album. 

Each track sans the first showcases damaged individuals creating furious and bellicose sounds that are so alienating that only those either deep in the scene or similarly sick individuals can enjoy. That's a strong statement, but I am willing to bet its factuality. With the band's first EP, The Children Are Watching consisting of five tracks of noisy grindcore goodness that last for three minutes, and their 2018 EP I Love You taking this abrasive genre and making it slightly more melancholic and technical, it is no surprise to see how Mother of Red Light developed from these places. Calling meth. Jane Doe-era Converge on PCP is an apt comparison; more hyper, chaotic and aggressive, this album starts and does stop anytime soon.

"Failure" into "Child of God", "Swallowed Conscience" and "Her Womb Lays Still" propel the record into a breakneck pace that shows no sign of stopping. However, the slowdowns on this album do come, and fortunately, healthy experimentation is used to keep them more than interesting. "Inbred" builds to a haunting climax of the title shouted cheerlessly into the following, aggressive track, "Cold Prayers" acts as a transition between the pace of the following track and the songs before it. However, the following song, "Psalm of Life", slows things down once again, and here is where initially I was somewhat confused. The pacing of this album is strange, to say the least. After almost 15 minutes of noisy, brutal mathcore, the atmosphere takes control and almost kills the aggression started by its predecessor. While both "Inbred" and "Psalm of Life" are superb tracks in the lineup and accomplish what they want extremely well, arguably more than the other tracks, they somewhat kill the flow of the album as a whole and puts the listener in somewhat of an uncomfortable and unsatisfied position in that regard. 

While normally there should be a full stop after that negative point, "Psalm of Life" is the song I would like to dissect in particular. The first minute and a half of this track features sparse atmosphere with distant tones - that's it. This is a nitpick, but that is far too long of an intro for a seven-minute track two-thirds of the way through this album. A gloomy and wistful melody is played on the guitar and the vocalist rambles in a run-down mumble as guitar tones begin to drone over the final note of the lead line. Finally, halfway through the track, nearly 4 minutes in, drums and samples flood the mix and the guitars take a sinister and disturbing turn. After this short chaotic section, the drums pick up with the lead line and throaty kvlt-esque screams enter. An intense drum breakdown and a few spoken word lines later, the song is over after 7 minutes. Unfortunately, this song goes nowhere. It is the emblem of the album's greatest issue. Some tracks meander for atmosphere's sake, and for someone who favors the pure brutality of the a-side, this doesn’t quite cut it.

However, the following and penultimate track, "Return Me (My Body)" is easily the best track, reinviting the fast tempos and helter-skeltering guitar riffs, which mix well with its occasional breakdown and reprisal of its melodies. We end with "The Walls, They Whisper", which does everything "Psalm of Life" did 'wrong'; its short build ends on a high note and the five-minute noise/drone passage at the end even acts as a bridge to a final intense and emotional end to this album. With a strong base sound and somewhat underwhelming experimentation, this album is good. For your abrasive mathcore fix, Mother of Red Light is going to give it to you hard. Even though it meanders towards the back half, it a solid release from an upcoming powerhouse of an intense band. Give this one a few spins if your soul is up to it.

Final Verdict: Emo Schizophrenia

Favorite Songs: "Return Me (My Body)", "Child of God"

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You can support the band via their Bandcamp.