Review Summary: Fatigued and indifferent
In all honesty, I got something of a nostalgia trip listening to Mental State. It put me in mind of my college days, and the wave of modern hardcore that took more than a pinch of inspiration from the deathcore sound of the time. This movement was quasi-influential in an understated way and managed to maintain a fair bit of momentum for a good few years, but eventually, as all musical trends do, the chain came off and the venture became something of a novelty. For this reason we are seeing a greater resurgence in the purer iteration of both root genres individually, but there are still bands who peddle the combination, with the preferred approach being to straddle the boundary between both worlds to work out how best to balance the influences. This helps to create a sound that is likeable, satisfyingly aggressive, but above all, dynamic. Traitors clearly disagree with this this technique, and as a result their output has always struggled to find a dynamic sound. Even more baffling is the use of a number of motifs usually associated with nu-metal, which whilst definitely not the most creative genre, was generally reliable as a source of impressive dynamics. Mental State, the band’s 2016 second full-length release, is certainly listenable and manages to retain that familiar mosh-happy energy that can hit the soul just right at the appropriate time, but it’s also flat, unambitious, and riddled with cliches.
Taking cues from early deathcore acts like Oceano and Impending Doom but imbuing them with grooves akin to some of the heavier modern hardcore outfits like Desolated, Traitors create an impasse in their sound by not appropriately expanding upon their solid groundwork. Instead, they construct plodding, downtuned riffs that are occasionally interrupted by minimalist interludes and repetitive breakdowns. This may seem fairly par for the course for such a genre, but the production doesn’t help matters either- burying the guttural vocals inamongst the somewhat catchy phrases and creating this ‘wall of noise’ effect, which has long been a bugbear of mine in this scene. The issue is that no facet of the music is able to stand out or evolve in an impressive or involving way- it sounds very base and simple throughout, like a rudimentary demonstration of the key elements.
‘No Sympathy’ and ‘My Regrets’ showcase some chunky nu-metal inspired riffs and the latter has a mildly satisfactory payoff in the form of a crushing breakdown, but is repeated ad nauseam and the introduction of blast beats toward the end don’t vary the sound so much as come off as a lazy attempt to diversify. Tracks such as ‘Disease’ and ‘Misery’ have a beefier and slightly more textured sound to their licks, but are still recycled to an irritating degree, whilst the vocal growling in the slight foreground does nothing to buck the corniness by covering the usual nihilistic, sociopolitical themes. The vocal tone itself isn’t half bad, and sounds suitably furious for the musicality- however, once again, it lacks variety and outstays it’s welcome after just a few songs.
‘Egotrip’ feels like one prolonged breakdown, and is serviceable due to its fleeting length, but again, this is a track that never really takes flight; it simply exists to break up the surrounding compositions. The rest of the cuts feel like filler; even less diverting versions of the handpicked selection I have covered in this review. There are moments of toe-tapping infectiousness, believe it or not; the brief bridge on ‘Irrelevant’ being a good example, and the more pronounced stop-start structure of ‘Nu Hate’ definitely has its moments. Overall though, the experience is one of underwhelming apoplexy, and what power there is on the release feels neutered by just how bland the songwriting is. The band desperately try to create momentum throughout the release, as evidenced by how homogenous the album feels as a whole. Yet, in doing so they draw attention to the issue of just how mundane each movement is- when listened to individually, songs have bite and feel much more engaging. As a 35 minute collection, though, banality sets in very quickly.
Traitors fill a niche. This is a niche that is enjoyed by a huge number of people, regardless of how much of an elitist they may be. The vibe of the record satisfies a simple urge for aggression by way of balls-out, no frills heavy music. I suppose that the main issue is that there are a variety of bands who produce a similar sound with more conviction, atmosphere, and innovation in a single song than Mental State does as a whole, where it always seems to be building to something but never actually gets there. It’s not terrible, it’s not good, it simply comes across as by-numbers, and not even to an offensive degree; it’s just as you’d expect from reading a brief description of the band with zero surprises added. A production overhaul and improved songwriting would go such a long way toward improving this stagnant sound, until then its going to continue seeming like a subpar tribute act to their many predecessors.
