Stoner metal outfit Mutoid Man will be sharing demo versions of “Headrush” and “Micro Aggression” tomorrow, February 5, for this month’s Bandcamp Friday. Mutoid Man’s label Sargent House will also be giving 100 percent of the demos’ profits to the band for this day that Bandcamp waives their share of the profits that they usually collect from artists that use their platform.
The demos were recorded in 2016 at Brooklyn, NY’s Saint Vitus Bar. It’s the same place Mutoid Man recorded the last demo they released, “Bandages,” which also came out on a Bandcamp Friday last August. As a “Mutoid factoid,” the band commented that they used the same 4-track recorder for the demos that 2013’s Helium Head EP was recorded on.
Like “Bandages,” “Headrush” and “Micro Aggression” are songs that were released on Mutoid Man’s latest album, War Moans (2017). The band’s style is notably technical for their associated genres, thanks to the proficiency of Cave In frontman Stephen Brodsky and Converge drummer Ben Koller. “Headrush” has some particularly quick drumming propelling the track for a song with a very Black Sabbath-influenced guitar riff, and Brodsky throws in an impressive guitar solo as well. “Micro Aggression” is overall more melodic with some spots of vocal theatrics, but no less breakneck in pace at several points.
Koller stated late last year that Mutoid Man and Converge both have a lot of written material they plan to take into the studio, saying that Mutoid Man has “a whole record ready to go.” While they were busy writing music, all three members of Mutoid Man were also busy covering songs through Brodsky’s heavy metal-themed late night show Two Minutes to Late Night. Some of the recent artists they’ve covered are Brian Eno, Journey, Alice in Chains and White Zombie.
Photo credit: Raymond Flotat
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