Review Summary: The Riffs!
Black Matter Device’s
Autonomous Weapons is only their sophmore release but it contains some of the strongest material in mathcore in recent years. What
Autonomous Weapons truly excels at is it’s riffs. You would be hard pressed to find a track here that does not contain a pummelling, dissonant riff that keeps you coming back to the track. What is particularly impressive is that they manage this without becoming obnoxiously technical like some other mathcore bands. The riffs are complex but still remains enjoyable to listen to. They have perfected this balance. From the opening crushing riff of
Sewer Slide Pact to the more ‘melodic’ playing on
Gender Mountain, the guitar playing never fails to keep your interest through it’s infectious energy alone.
Autonomous Weapons kicks off with the one-two punch of
Man vs. Machine vs. Man and
Blood Splatter Ink Blot, which immediately sets the pace for the album and is the perfect way to do it. With its especially manic and frantic ending and some great screaming vocals, the super dissonant
Sesame Street Sweeper is a strong contender for best song on the album. It is made even more potent with the madness starting with discordant horns. Another highlight is the Car Bomb-esque
Y'all Wanna Play This? with it being a complete riff fest. The brief yet impactful
Jay Dino Dies is a satisfying barrage of noise and instrumentation leading to a solid grind track.
Snuff Film Actors Guild has a destructive, sludgy riff that is paired with insane drum fills and bass, which ends the track with a lot’s of intensity, showing that the band is always capable of delivering on the powerful dissonant soundscape that we want from this group.
While the album does lack some range and deviation from their standard sound, the band realised this, keeping the album at a concise runtime of 26 minutes. This prevents the sound from becoming tiresome after a while and jaded. The riffs stay fresh and exciting on repeat listens because of this. However, a bit more experimentation would certainly be welcome in order to add more surprises to their sound, as this is just your standard mathcore album, albeit done better than most other groups. The vocals are stellar throughout the album too, with it adding a lot more tension to the band's already savage sound.
Overall,
Autonomous Weapons is an excellent album that is filled to the brim with pummeling, dissonant riffage that never lets up or decreases in quality during the album's runtime. While the guitar is the definite highlight of the album, every member of the band does an exceptional job here. Every song here is enjoyable, as there are no obvious low points at all. All I wish for is a bit more variety in sound, as some songs do blend together.
