Man, I fucking love Indecision Records if for no other reason than they're one of the only labels out there that's giving the proper discography CD treatment to so many bands from the days of old. First the almighty Unbroken, then Insted, then Undertow, and now Outspoken (which I'll cover later) and god damn Mean Season, motherfuckers! I slept on buying this one, "The Memory and I Still Suffer in Love", for a little while since I already have most of these songs on the original releases, but this puppy collects remastered (and some remixed) tracks spanning 1992—1995, including compilation appearances and some unreleased tunes to boot—in addition to the "Bleed to Me" 7" and "Grace" full-length.
Now, there seems to be somewhat of an odd (but well deserved) resurgence in appreciation for these guys lately, and a lot of what you read about 'em makes it seem like they were huge, which maybe they were in some locales, but I can tell you straight up that in my experience I distinctly remember that no one seemed to give two shits about this band when they were around or in the years just following their demise. Every time I used to wear my Mean Season t-shirt I got sick of explaining to people that, no, I was not a Mad Season fan (Remember that half-assed side project from members of Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, and the Screaming Trees or whatever? Yeah, that one.), and I never really saw much coverage on these guys in zines or anything either.
The band formed in the early-90's and basically started out sounding like a not-as-powerful west coast version of Integrity or something along those lines, namely on the 7". But by the time "Grace" came out in 1994 they had morphed into a total metal band that was way the fuck ahead of their time, and were tied to hardcore mainly by mentality and their original label (New Age Records) alone. "Grace" is easily among the best metalcore releases of the 90's, as the damn thing's chock full of powerhouse songwriting and sick riffs that combine a mildly technical European sounding edge with the chunkiness of the US sound. There are just so many raging riffs on this thing, not to mention some sweet acoustic work. And those vocals? Man, the dude sounded standard in the early days, but he became a fuckin' nutjob on the LP! It sounds like he's yelling with a mouthful of blood and teeth or something, his enunciation is terrible, but somehow the end result is so fuckin' perfect. Seriously, say what you will, but these fuckers were a really original sounding band, and it's hard to narrow it down to just a few songs from the 11-tracks on "Grace" alone (and there are 19 total on this collection). "Pilgrim" is quite possibly one of the greatest songs ever, too. And "Suffer"? Fuck, this band at their best was just incredible...
Mean Season "Pilgrim"
Mean Season "Suffer"
Mean Season "Numb Again"
There's also a CD-Rom video herein for "Lesser Man", which is nothing to write home about, but hey, it's there. And I will say that even though all of the lyrics and plenty of killer photos are included, that cover art is a fucking abomination and does not in any way do the massive awesomeness of this release justice. The lack of liner notes is a little bit of a letdown as well, but I'm a nerd, so screw it... the jams are what really matters.
Allegedly the band has in fact reunited and plans on recording a new album in 2006, but like many of their west coast brothers they sort of ended up going in a weird sort of discordantly aggressive post-hardcore direction in their final days (demonstrated in the first two tracks on this CD, which were recorded for compilations in 1995), so who knows what that will yield? For now, though? Fuck it, buy this shit immediately. And I'm especially looking at any younger kids who have today's "metalcore" to live with. Mean Season makes bands like Bleeding Through look like god damn Menudo. Save yourselves:
Comments
Grace is my all-time favorite album. It’s pure emotion & beauty. A unique record.
12.21.2005 | By Anonymous
Truly one of the most underrated bands of all time. Amazing metalhardcore with evil lyrics, and a sound to the drums that Steve Albini himself couldn’t match. Really great shit.
I’m truly impressed with the content on this blog. Now I urge you to bring the almighty Lincoln back from the dead!
12.21.2005 | By Dick
shit man, i love this 90s metalcore…thank for showing up bands like this who we never had the chance of listening down here in spain…
12.21.2005 | By desintegrado
never was a fan of these guys, and i do have to agree with you that their bio makes them seem like they had much more of a fanbase and following than they actually did.
even before the 7”, a least a couple of these dudes were in a band called Have No Part, which were pretty typical youth crewish HC. HNP released a demo, which i always thought was far better than anything that Mean Season did.
12.21.2005 | By chadski
mate i gotta take issue with that bleeding through comment. that band may now be caught up in the metal/fashioncore trend, but “portrait of the goddess” is fucking brilliant. it is the best thing ever released on indecision records. if you have not heard it, i suggest you do yourself a favour with open mind and you maybe surprised. i hope see a review of it in the blog someday ; )
mean season isnt too bad, a bit too consistently midpaced for my tastes. but ah, i dont know how one can think this band makes BT sound like some pop band. mean season are nowhere near as heavy (not that heaviness is the arbiter of good music anyway)
12.21.2005 | By alexwank
bleeding through….best release on indecision records? hahahahahahhahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahhahahahaha. Oh man… hahahahaha. That shit made my day.
12.22.2005 | By Anonymous
Someone is telling Andrew Aversion to open his mind…. WTF? Have you actually read the whole blog?
Anyways…
Mean Season. Great band. I would have to say, probably one of the more influential, yet uncredited, bands to bring forth the whole wave of metalcore. Although, I have always sat the fence on the vocals… and to this day I still don’t know if I dig them or not.
Now, let’s get some Drift Again on here…
-slavis
12.23.2005 | By slavis
What I think is funny about the Bleeding Through comment, and people’s reaction to it, is that Brandan (lead singer of BT and a good friend of mine thru high school) always loved Mean Season. Seriously, loved ‘em. Just had to share
2.7.2006 | By Jesse
hell yeah drumming is some parts remind of Starkweather “tribal drummening”. I really like this album!
11.23.2006 | By Rebel without a Cause