Labels: Level Plane
Review by: Alex Deller
Too much of this kerrazy math-metal lark stinks to high heaven these days like a class full of simpering overachievers clamouring to win their teachers favour with ever-more studious musicianship. What does that spell? Boring! Boring with a capital fucking “B”, dickheads. Boring! Thankfully the Minor Times don’t seem too concerned with bringing apples in for teacher – they might have all the caustic jags and snarls that’ll force the phrase American Nervoso to flash across brain, and the same voice coach behind Sean Ingram’s monosyllabic bellow, but at their noxious heart lies the desire not to astound you with technical wizardry, but to fuck you up and fuck you up hard. Sure, it would have been easy to cram in a few more needling riffs here and there, but anyone who’s ever been an older sibling wielding the unwavering hand of unkind justice knows that true punishment lies in remorseless repetition and the simple refusal to let go when a stranglehold is locked tight. The Minor Times have just such a pig-ugly mean streak in them, anchoring it firm to the kind of fevered neuroses that made Kiss It Goodbye so terrifying and fusing it all into an asteroid collision of paranoia, hate, rage and other such unsympathetic human traits that you can’t envisage them volunteering for a post with the Samaritans any time soon.
While deeming Making Enemies some kind of metalcore lodestar might be pushing things a little too far, it forces you to recognise the fact that this style can still knock a few heads together when provoked and stands as the kind of reassuring punch in the face we all need once in a while to remind us we’re capable of feeling something, even if it is just an abject loathing for those that surround us.