Review Summary: Now if there's anything that can fill a void left by both Burst and Starkweather, Mouth of the Architect is it.
The Violence Beneath is an incredibly fitting album title. Beneath the doom rumble of the Dayton...
Wait, this came out of Ohio? Nothing good comes from Ohio.
Ohio? Wiki'd it and everything?
Well, I'll be damned. I was going to go off on review cliches like "A boiling turbulence underneath an already brooding exterior", in reference to the title, and "discordant melodies threshed and fused with riffs that move like a great, dark, crawling thing", but now that I know that these poor souls are from Ohio? Oh, that changes sh*t. That changes
all the sh*t.
The record abounds with ferocity, bursting at the seams with a virulent anger that I haven't heard since the aforementioned
Starkweather's 2006 effort,
Croatoan. This must stem from living in a state that, when given as an answer to the ubiquitous question "Where you boys from?", results in the other inevitable question, "The state with all them potatoes?". That's Idaho. There's f*cking
nothing in Ohio. It has to be infuriating.
The slow, deliberate pace the album exudes from opening title track slow-burner to the Phil Collins/Peter Gabriel/Who Seriously Cares cover of "In Your Eyes" shows a discipline inherent in living in The Buckeye State.
Their vision is based on movement.
Needless to say,
Mouth of the Architect deserves your attention. For both putting out an excellent atmospheric and brutal sludge album (Complete with some metallic hardcore trimmings) and for their apparent dire situation. This band has been highly prolific for their short 6 year span, and with each release has been an upshoot in quality. It's a punishing listen, but captivating as well. It's almost like they're trying to get our attention...
Hmm...
In Short:
Someone needs to start studying these albums, to detect any hidden messages within. I have a theory that there is an SOS, but if the local Ohioites find out before we do, it could be too late for
Mouth of the Architect.
