Muga "s/t" CD
[Dharma]
As soon as I heard this band on the "Japanese Assault" compilation I knew I had to track down some of their other work, so as soon as I saw this record I bought it immediately, and holy shit... this is killer! Intense, massive hardcore/punk with plenty of tasteful metal influences and gruff male/female vocals combining vicious low/high shouting - definitely very much in the vein of His Hero is Gone and the like. They blend slower, plodding chord progressions with much faster speeds and a lot of dissonant notes and chords, at times getting more chaotic and slightly noisy, but generally keeping things very structured and venturing into more melodic territory. In all honesty they're not all that original, a lot of these rhythms and song structures are straight out of the His Hero is Gone handbook, or even Tragedy, and the songs are energetic busts kept right around two to three minutes in most instances - but fuck it, they're great at what they do, and I'd easily tag them one of the best bands currently performing in this general style. Shit, just check out the eerie clean passage that opens up "Resuscitation"! Beautiful, and totally pristine... the clean tone sounds like something you'd hear on a thrash metal record from the late-80's! A similar approach is used in the longer, at times slower "Journey to the End", which is the most forceful song on the disc - a perfect closer. I don't think I have any issues with the sound quality. It's got a bite to it, and the lower vocals are ever so slightly out front (or at least given more space in the mix), but the drums are pretty good, the guitars and bass form a totally thick wall of massive distortion, and it works out just fine. It's not perfectly clear, but I don't feel like anything is getting lost, and I'd rather hear everything close together like this than end up suffering from being too thin if given any separation or anything. Most of the packaging is straight black with some gray, using largely text and small manipulated images. The lyrics and titles are translated into English, but the majority of the text appears in Japanese characters, which is nice. I'm definitely grateful for the translations, though! I like the lyrics, things are pretty bleak, but not devoid of hope: "Slaves and madmen keep digging their own graves, Warped sense of pride, conquers the other side of this world, Let this place die, Symbol of ignorance multiplies, fading wisdom of ancestors, Where has self-respect gone?" Great stuff. Fans of this direction of hardcore/punk would be remiss not to look out for this band. (8/10)
Running time - 29:50, Tracks: 11
[Notable tracks: Unleash Before Death, Camouflage, Resuscitation, Journey to the End]
Dharma Records, 4-64-4 Shonan Owariasahi Aichi, 488-0823 Japan

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