So autumn is officially the month for power noise rock releases... why didn’t anyone tell me? We’ve already had our chops smashed in by Future of the Left, Antlered Man, Whores. and Mutoid Man, so is there really any room for another on this rather brutal journey? Not really... no. However, what if it was from a project featuring cult heroes Ginger Wildheart, Shane Embury of Napalm Death, Mark E. Smith of The Fall and a guest appearance from Merzbow among others? Ok maybe we can put our bags on our laps and squeeze in a bit more, we'll make room dammit!! What makes Mutation’s album Error 500 even more tantalising is that it’s a Pledge release which is an excellent platform for true fans to fund new music by their favourite artists and it’s on Mike Patton’s label, Ipecac Recordings... needless to say this album sounding promising is an understatement.
First off, credit has to be given to these guys for an ongoing determination to keep creating boundary pushing music. Most musicians who have been around 30 years are now just releasing books about their apparent coke addiction in the 90s and just happy to be asked to appear on the BBC's One Show every year to talk about something boring. This isn’t the case for anyone involved with Mutation and from the moment 'Bracken' kicks in we know we’re in for an assault on the senses. It’s a shit load of fun, such a difficult album to describe but almost like a McClusky/Fantomas collaboration, an overriding noise rock feel but with a big fat mental slab of the experimental right at the heart of it. It has powerful vocals throughout but dropped into a frenzied mixing bowl with all kinds of electronic noises, ferocious riffs and insanely fast beats. If that wasn’t enough we have to deal with, it also boasts authentic grindcore patches in abundance, are you starting to see what kind of animal we’re dealing with here?
There are many other dimensions to this rather unpredictable affair including vintage Ginger poppy hooks which sound bat shit crazy in the context of it all. One moment your enjoying potential sing-alongs and then someone is trying to attack your skull with a drill… you never really know where you are. ‘White Leg’ is a prime example of the Error 500 chaos, a constant barrage of time changes which brings everything from quirky math beats to brutal riffs all overlaid with a mix of quirky and aggressive vocals. There are sections which go from sounding like Lightning Bolt to Atari Teenage Riot in the blink of an eye, it’s basically so full of dynamic combos you might have some kind of panic attack. The final track 'Benzo Furry' (the name of one of those dodgy internet white drugs) is colossal, an epic crescendo which makes you stand and salute just before it swoops back into the brain crushing grind nonsense… next level.
I think this album is an absolute beast. It has so much variety it’s hard to keep up, there’s wonderful post punk moments with Mark E. Smith which are promptly sucked into Error 500, which just makes it sound so retro yet fresh. There’s probably over a century of musical heritage between these fellas and it shows. I don’t think the level of song writing is quite up there with other noise rock contemporaries such as Future of the Left or Exit_International but this is overshadowed by the indescribable events which just make you so damn happy. I’m listening now for like the hundredth time and I’m grinning like a twat and isn’t that really the point music?
