Genres: Mathcore, djent (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Car Bomb, Meshuggah, Frontierer
Country: UK/ Oregon, US
Release date: 15 March 2024
One of the only albums to truly put me on edge and feel uncomfortable is Pig Destroyer’s Prowler in the Yard. The music itself is horrific in its own right, but the text-to-speech voice that bookends the album truly put me on edge, especially the ending silence of closer ‘Piss Angel’, leaving you to contemplate the horror of what you just listened to . It’s one of the most bone-chilling moments in metal for me, and any band that can replicate that feeling have my immense respect.
So, Weston Super Maim kind of cheated by sampling this text-to-speech voice with the opener of See You Tomorrow Baby, but boy was it effective at getting my attention. The album wastes no time with a math-y assault on all senses right away. Within 3 and a half minutes, Weston Super Maim make it their mission statement to boggle your mind with time signature fuckery and a surprising shift into clean vocal melody about halfway through.
As much as I love getting my ass blasted by Car Bomb rhythms and Meshuggah chugs, the shift into an electronica-influenced and actually melodic section while still retaining the time-sig nonsense is what initially sold me on Weston Super Maim. My co-reviewer and possibly surrogate father Christopher (who recommended this to me because he knows of this band through some friends [Christopher: Yo, Tom, I found you guys through Andrea and Matt]), knew this would appeal to my affinity for music that annihilates the ears, but I didn’t think he knew just how much.
‘Autistic Kill Trance’, quite possibly song title of the year, jolts you back awake with Car Bomb laser pistol noises that lead straight into a crushing breakdown, punctuated by Blindfolded and Led to the Woods vocalist Stace Fifeld. This track lessened all fears that See You Tomorrow Baby had an ounce of formula to it, as it gives you but a moment to breathe before bludgeoning you over the head again, and ensures that you don’t get used to clean vocals or any kind of melodic breaks.
See You Tomorrow Baby fucking tears through its mere eight tracks in just shy of forty minutes, which is the sweet spot for an album this aggressive. Unlike Meshuggah, an obvious influence, Weston Super Maim make sure their transitions are as janky as possible. The changes are as jarring as they should be, and the production is just the right amount of suffocating to make sure some background melody still peaks through. Just as I began to grow weary, ‘Slow Hell’s ending bursts with keyboards and shiny, background synth melodies.
Obviously, this album isn’t going to appeal to everyone. A Car Bomb FFO is bound to turn some noses, and I can respect the cowardice. It takes a very special kind of braindead to enjoy a constant barrage of pummeling riffs and noises a guitar shouldn’t make, all as one especially angry man screams at you. In fact, Weston Super Maim themselves don’t even get it all right. ‘Johnny Mnemonic’’s constant rhythm took up too much of the song for the late guitar solo to save it, and ‘Brute Fact’ ends just as it begins to pick up.
Thankfully, ‘The Bare Maximum’ picks up the quality right where it left off. This and the closer are easily my two favorite tracks, with the former having an absolute ripper of a solo by Soreption’s Ian Wayne. While closer ‘Perfect Meadows in Every Direction’ could’ve easily toppled under the eight-minute runtime, but the transition into melody that closes out the album was such a high note to go out on. Even with a backdrop of screamed vocals, the album perfectly ends with that blend of aggression and melody it started with.
Since discovering this, I’ve gone back and listened to Weston Super Maim’s debut, and was shocked at the progress they’ve made in such a short time. These two lads have the talent to pull off true time signature wizardry, and even though still slightly rough around the edges, they’ve clearly put the work in to make an uncompromising, crushing vision. I really can’t wait another three years to see what Weston Super Maim does next, and how it’ll absolutely destroy my eardrums in the best way possible.
Recommended tracks: Autistic Kill Trance, The Bare Maximum, See You Tomorrow Baby, Pleasant Fields
You may also like: Ὁπλίτης, Frostbitt
Final verdict: 7.5/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
Label: Independent
Weston Super Maim is:
– Seth Detrick (vocals)
– Tom Stevens (music)
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