Fuming Mouth - Last Day Of Sun

Fuming Mouth – Last Day Of Sun
Release Date: 3rd November 2023
Label: Nuclear Blast
Bandcamp
Genre: Death Metal, Crust, Hardcore.
FFO: Celestial Sanctuary, Gatecreeper, Nails, Creeping Death, Black Breath.
Review By: Mark Young

This one seemed to creep up out of nowhere, and suddenly I’m seeing them in my socials having announced a January tour with Celestial Sanctuary (Dave – take this as hint for a live review…) which feels like the best kind of serendipity.

Taking the album out for a first listen, it doesn’t strike as I thought it would. It has that grind guitar tone that can strip enamel from your teeth. Out of Time, with its bellowed introduction, has that groove riff that seamlessly slips into a quasi-hardcore timing. Once you read up on the album and its creation, it takes on a new slant as they return from Mark Whelan’s battle with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia.

This is a collection that takes you on a deeply personal journey of one man’s battle with a life-threatening disease. Out of Time has the right parts to kick off any album – pounding drums, brutal riffing, and a vocal delivery that stamps a level of authenticity all over it. Respect and Blasphemy takes this and stamps it further into your ears. It’s the sound of someone in a hurry to make up for lost time and not to stand still. The Silence Beyond Life eschews the traditional growls for a grit-infused vocal that really carries the song without losing any of the urgency.

The brush with mortality is writ large over the 12 tracks, and it acts as a well of creativity for Fuming Mouth, they don’t pigeonhole themselves with just one form of attack from the immediate I’ll find you that goes from quick-fire to melodic over its runtime with a powerful riff that carries this forward to the frantic Kill the Disease that kicks off with a frantic trem picked intro and then keeps this forward motion going. Last Day Of Sun is just monstrous as is R.I.P. they both have that stomping mid-paced thing going on that is perfect for whipping up the crowd.

Burial Practices brings a suitable level of brutality as we enter the final stages and has that similar level of quality within it. It whips along without being considered as Hyper-fast, but has that feel of rushing into oncoming traffic with that grinding guitar tone ever present. Postfigurement closes out with a rolling, swinging riff and build. There is a palpable anger in the guttural delivery, as well as a feeling of hope that they have turned a corner. It has an almost sludge like feel to it, a ponderous movement that allows it to build and swell. Fabulous stuff.