One day, mathy grindcore in the vein of Dillinger Escape Plan woke up after a night of heavy chugging and shifting time signatures. He yawned and stretched out, reaching towards his bed side table. As he reached, he brushed someone sleeping next to him. Shocked and incapable of remembering the night before, he woke his mysterious lover. To his dismay, 90’s industrial in the vein of Orgy and Nine Inch Nails awoke and said “Good morning, honey”.
Nine months later, Grindcore and Industrial had a baby called Error 500. Already backed with the tense blastbeats and insane industrial sludge, Error 500 grew up listening to old Korn and eventually worked in a circus. The end.
Seriously.
Mutation’s Error 500 came out of nowhere and absolutely stunned me. Part grindcore, industrial, old-school Korn, and settling in with an insane carnival-esq vibe, this album breaks down so many barriers that I can’t even begin to list them all. It’s a completely engaging listen from top to bottom.
So many times in music, reviewers and fans complain about bands like Mutation. “They don’t know who they want to be!”, “Too much singing!”, “Too much screaming!”, “Sounds like a bunch of noise!”, “Not enough noise!”, they all cry out as they go back to listening their “go-to” albums and remain rooted in their stubbornness . Mutation doesn’t give a shit about that. You can tell from the way they combine elements of music that they obviously love into something all their own.
I won’t go into too much detail about the musical accomplishments of the playing members of Mutation. Needless to say, they are all absolutely amazing musicians who could just about play anything you put in front of them. They are absolutely top notch with incredible production backing this album. No, I need to hammer home the fact that there is literally NOTHING I have ever heard quite like these guys. Completely unique, heavy, intelligent, and straight up fun, Error 500 will be on my top ten album list of 2013. It’s unique for me to stop and listen to something like this. I mean, I can’t put into words what these guys do. From the moment I heard the incredible and traditional mathcore song Bracken, with its hints of Poison the Well-style heavy rock and unique time signitures, I knew I was in for a great and well-crafted grindcore/mathcore/metal album. How wrong could I be? Well, not wrong about the fact that this is a well-crafted album… but the grindcore/mathcore stigma.
Directly following this song is a bouncy, almost Green Day inspired tune complete with “Way-oh-Way-oh” rising up from the noise.
Every song is a different journey. The song Mutations throws you another curveball. You’ve got crazy industrial metal mixed with Queen style vocals.
Ah fuck it. I can’t explain it. Just find this album, buy it, and love it. If you’re into any of the things I’ve mentioned above… you gotta get your hands on this.
--The Professor
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