Mugshot
Cold Will – Pure Noise Records
Some music is so heavy that it is best enjoyed in small doses, so it’s apt that metalcore bruisers Mugshot’s latest release is the five track EP, Cold Will. Clocking in at a cool twelve minutes, it wastes not a single second of its running time and distils its rage into a potent, visceral brew. Like a bullet from a chamber, opening shot ‘Life’s Debt’ flies on a direct path (and at great velocity) towards your temple and impacts with great force. Like many three-piece bands, Mugshot sound far bigger than their constituent parts and when you factor in subject matter detailing abuse, depression and trauma, you have a heavy record that hits all the right buttons. Taking the crushing brutality of Cannibal Corpse and melding it to the street suss of Madball was always going to be a winner, but it’s their own magic that Mugshot sprinkle on this release that makes it sparkle so. A guest spot from Josh Mata (Skin Ticket) sends the title-track into overdrive, but it is closer ‘Within Stained Glass’ that takes of the gloves and lands a succession of heavy blows. It’s a brutal beatdown, but it is the only way to go.
Review by Peter Dennis