Band....................................Mutabo/Hellexist
Album...................................Mutate And Survive/Age Of Death
Year......................................2016
Genre...................................crust, anarcho-punk, grind, metal punk
Format..................................vinyl, LP
Country.................................Serbia/Malaysia
here we have one little bit older but awesome and worthy of
your attention record.. split by two bands from two different parts of the
world, both fcked up on their own way but mostly by general misery, repressive state, poor low
life standards and economical situation - Mutabo dark crust punk from Serbia and
Malaysian metal punks Hellexist..
both bands are represented with their recordings from 2014
while this LP was released two years later on Neanderthal Stench in cooperation
with ZAS Autoproduzioni, Angry Voice and Anomie records.. and from this top cooperation you can't expect less than one hell of beautiful record, and sure you got it here.. it's pressed on
awesome looking black and white splattered vinyl, with great
cover artworks on both sides, inner sleeve is included with lyrics and
translation of the same, small artworks, photos and all other info, as well with
big Hellexist poster and all together is really nicely done..
on Mutabo side we have their debut (I believe) recordings,
and hey what a debut!.. 5 songs of dirty and dark, raw but powerful and high quality at the
same time crust anarcho-punk in this occult/pagan/apocalyptic/mad max punk
atmosphere.. bands like Axegrinder, Amebix and Sacrilege comes to mind on the first notes of opening track but
again unbelievable original and authentic sound, very hard to describe but more
than pleasant to hear and enjoying into..it’s enough to say that this trio
includes members of Nakot, Atomski Rat and Dažd, combining the best elements of
aforementioned but bringing it out on
some another level this time and making it more complex and interesting than
ever.. lyrics are also story for itself, about lack of freedom, dark destiny of humanity and earth, retribution, etc, written on Serbian but on this somehow poetic way and are darker than death, which also contributes to overall atmosphere..
on the other side, totally different but again original and unique band Hellexist from, to me personally, one of the most
interesting diy punk scenes in last couple of years (at the same time pretty unknown and still
undiscovered) the one from Malaysia.. their material was previously released as a
vinyl, CD and a tape on Broken Noise
records in Malaysia and with this split they are representing themselves to the European
listeners.. also 5 songs by them, combining metal guitars, without bass I think, fast awesome
sounding d-beat drum artillery, and mix of all kinds of vocal styles, from those grind guttural to screamed and
yelled, even some hardcore styled shouted backing vocals in the song "To Live To Die"
which all together makes one of the most diverse vocal approach I have heard in
long time on single record.. you can say they are riding on the wave of old Hellshock,
Sanctum and the likes influences and vibes but on not so common and usual way..
while Mutabo totally succeeded in mixing
various elements and making their own perfect blend, Hellexist kind of sounds as
if they were wandering through all those thrash, even black, then again
sometimes heavy metal, grindcore and crust punk fields in searching of right
formula.. if they found it or not, it’s up to you to decide but anyhow they are
interesting and worth to check out.. also I must mention, while Mutabo has
unfortunately only one record after this one (split LP with Vastation) guys
from Hellexist are much more active on this field and they can brag themselves
with quite some releases under their belts (the newest is demo from this year
released as diy cassette)..
anyhow, one really awesome split and one
of the dearest records in my humble collection which I will actually spin a lot, lot of times,
that’s for sure!.. Mutabo is carrying this record on some higher level, their
side is purely magical but their comrades from other side of this split (and
world) are also great and interesting.. I believe this is still easy available
from the labels and distros from all around the Eu-rope and I’ve got mine from great
and reliable Sumoggu records just few days ago for the price of 12 euros so you can try there or
search for it at your favorite local diy hc punk supplier.. if you want to dive deep into some seriously dark, harsh and real atmosphere and find two new interesting and pretty innovative crust/punk/metal bands from a way underrated diy scenes, this one is for you, strongly recommended, because you know - some quality noise can be played outside of US, Scandinavia or UK, too..
