Albums of the Week: 07/06/19 (Dinosaur Pile-Up, Plague Vendor, Fuming Mouth)

Dinosaur Pile-Up – Celebrity Mansions

8/10

Best Tracks: Thrash Metal Cassette, Back Foot, Professional Freak

FFO: Feeder, Demob Happy, Puppy

Dinosaur Pile-Up, for the last few years, have been one of the best “greatest hits” bands in British rock. Each of their albums lays claim to two or three incredibly infectious, bouncy, rifftastic bangers (from ‘My Rock N’ Roll’ to ‘Red and Purple’), but each usually tends to find company with some ultimately less memorable tunes. Celebrity Mansions is arguably the first release from the Leeds-based slackers in which the deep cuts hold up to the singles.

From the very first wild, adrenaline-pumping scream on ‘Thrash Metal Cassette’ to the final chorus of ‘Long Way Down’, Dinosaur Pile-Up don’t pull any punches on this album. It’s riff-heavy alt-rock at its very best, and some of those said riffs are so good that they act as real, tangible hooks. The main guitar line in ‘Back Foot’ is as catchy as any I've heard since that Turnstile album last year, and - excitingly - it feels like it has enough in common with a band like Royal Blood to potentially crack the mainstream. In fact, I'd be surprised if this LP isn't picked up by a number of people who wouldn't typically listen to rock and metal, just because the songs are so infectious and well-put-together (especially with the band just recently signed to Parlophone Records).

With song titles like 'Stupid Heavy Metal Broken Hearted Loser Punk' and 'Professional Freak', it's pretty clear from the get-go that Celebrity Mansions is, for the most part, thematically concerned with the classic struggles of an outsider, as well as a disdain for mainstream celebrity culture (hence the album's title). Vocalist Matt Bigland can be found across the record taking on topics from being in a band but never "making it big" to loving someone who won't look twice at you, all with tongue firmly planted in cheek. There are countless cultural references (i.e. "I wish I was a billionaire and balling like The Rock") and subtle jokes which add up to a brilliant sense of character and attitude, and it means that DPU really stand out among their peers. To top it all off, every single line seems to be delivered in the catchiest way possible.

Celebrity Mansions is the best album of Dinosaur Pile-Up's career thus far. With all the pop hooks and big riffs flying about, I'd be amazed if anybody who hears it wouldn't be convinced of the band's potential. Most importantly, it may finally mean that DPU get the attention and popularity that they've deserved for so long.

Plague Vendor – By Night

7/10

Best Tracks: Let Me Get High \ Low, Pain In My Heart, Snakeskin Boots

FFO: Hot Snakes, Tigercub, Metz

The title of “World’s Coolest Band” is hotly contested, but Plague Vendor have long been the dark horse who you should really put your money on. Their second full-length record, 2016’s BLOODSWEAT, showcased a unique style of alt-rock oozing with swagger and knowing confidence, and was impossible not to dance along to. On this third LP, By Night, the band once again prove that they can’t be touched in their suaveness. 

There are a lot of Plague Vendor’s signature sounds on this record. From the wonderfully greasy, oiled-up guitarwork to the repetitive hooks delivered with a decidedly punk energy, it's all striking and recognisable upon first listen - an impressive feat, to have honed such a unique sound by only their third album. There are enough differences to their previous work, however, that the album is able to keep the listener on the edge of their seat for its 30-minute runtime. The one-two punch of Pain In My Heart and Snakeskin Boots is a prime example, as the former is led by an abrasive, discordant guitar line which really gets under the skin, and the latter features an unnervingly monotone pair of a capella verses.

It should also be pointed out that the production work on By Night – done by John Congleton (whose previous efforts include records by Explosions In The Sky, Earl Sweatshirt, and Trash Talk) – elevates it to another level. It creates an almost psychedelic atmosphere, and the feverish aura which hovers around each track mirrors the album artwork in its lucidity and surrealism. This artistic decision does mean that it may take a few listens for the record to really sink in compared to the up-front nature of their previous work, but when the penny drops, it does so with a clang. The swirling, trippy effects on the song 'Let Me Get High \ Low' in particular make for a hypnotising listen.  

Though it might be Plague Vendor's least instantaneous effort thus far, By Night will dig its claws deep into you by the third listen. I still prefer the straight-up adrenaline of BLOODSWEAT, but this record is no doubt a worthy follow-up.

Fuming Mouth – The Grand Descent

8.5/10

Best Tracks: Burning Hand, Vision of Purgatory, Dead Asleep

FFO: Gatecreeper,Venom Prison, Trap Them

There’s a riff in ‘Dead Asleep’, ten tracks deep into my first listen of Fuming Mouth’s The Grand Descent, that honestly made me stop everything I was doing and simply sit, dumbfounded, at how incredible metal can be sometimes. There's a lot of that here.

This debut record from Massachusetts newcomers Fuming Mouth is powerful. It takes influence from the worlds of death metal and hardcore in equal measure, and the resulting amalgam is as utterly, beautifully crushing as you could ever hope for. With furiously violent drumming and a bass tone you can feel in the pit of your stomach married to inventive, earth-shattering riffs, the album is instrumentally pretty flawless - not to mention original and exciting. The vocal performance is the icing on the cake, with Mark Whelan shredding his vocal cords to achieve the same intonation in which you would expect the monstrous god on the album's artwork to speak.

To do all this and make it sound absolutely huge is no mean feat. My personal favourite modern producer, Kurt Ballou (of Converge fame), is behind the production on The Grand Descent, and it simply seems that when it comes to heavy music he can do no wrong. His distinctive take on how to make everything sound ten times more disgusting and destructive once again works fantastically here, and it results in one of the best-sounding records I've heard for a while. It helps that the album has a perfect length - 33 minutes mean that the band can get in, rip your face clean off, and get out. It leaves you satisfied, but still wanting infinitely more.

Fuming Mouth, here, have released one of the best debut LPs of the year thus far. It’s gnarly, it’s weighty, it’s creative, and if you’re into heavy music for the riffs, you’d be a downright fool to not give it a listen. The Grand Descent is my album of the week.