Molybaron – The Mutiny
Release Date: 21st May 2021
Label: Independent
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Genre: Metal, Alt-Metal, Groove Metal.
FFO: Mastodon, Alter Bridge, Queens of the Stone Age, Clutch, Therapy?.
Review By: Jonathon Hopper
The second album from Franco-Irish four-piece Molybaron, The Mutiny sees the alt-metallers take the layered blueprint laid out on eponymous debut album and lead it into some very dark places indeed.
The apocalyptic stomp of Animals sets the scene. A spiralling litany of environmental distress with a chorus that’s catchier than a dose of bubonic plague, it’s also the perfect introduction for the uninitiated to the full-throated theatrics of Gary Kelly’s vocals. “Breed like an animal, kill like an animal.”
Written as a reaction to the tawdry exercise in debasement that was the 2016 US election, if you like a snarling commentary on the human condition set against the backdrop of a pounding alt-metal soundtrack you really have come to the right place.
Lucifer follows; a thunderous roar, the twin guitars of Kelly and Steven Andre casting riffs out like tormented souls, further proof that even when the Dark Lord’s name is being used as an allegory for political machinations he still has all the best tunes.
Yet The Mutiny has far more going for it than another collection of tunes that points out that sometimes humans just aren’t that great to each other. Amongst the Boys and the Dead Flowers is a genuinely poignant take on mortality, a tremulous, timeless classic that could rub shoulders on equal terms with any metal standard of the past fifty or so years, from early Priest to the mighty Mastodon.
It’s all highly compelling stuff. Slave to the Algorithm – other than being a pretty exceptional play on words – is a breakneck assault on the information society; Something for the Pain a jolting course of anti-anti-inflammatories, like Therapy? spiking Tool’s pina colada.
There’s even time for a celebrity cameo, Ugly Kid Joe’s Whitfield Crane lending his talents to the twisted groove of Twenty Four Hours. A runaway rumble with a killer hook and some scintillating fret-work, the end result is like Tarantino directing a duel between Queens of the Stone Age and Clutch.
If their eponymous debut laid down the foundations, then what Molybaron have done here on their sophomore release is to build a bloody great fortress on top of it. Edgier than a multi-pack of edge, tossing riffs and lyrical nuggets into the assembled throng like a politician tosses half-truths, division and mad tweets, The Mutiny is one wild ride that should be appreciated by anyone that likes their metal direct and incisive.
The players that inspired the ten songs on display here may have shuffled off ungraciously to the wings, but the cause is still very much in evidence. Best grab yourself a copy of The Mutiny while you can to enjoy before the whole mad circus starts again.
(4.5 / 5)
