Photo by Wallace Boesch
Stream MEATWOUND’s “Mount Vermin” HERE.
Florida’s noise-soaked hardcore sludge exhibitionists MEATWOUND will unleash their Macho full-length on May 9th on newly-launched Threat Collection Records, owned and operated by producer/engineer Ryan Boesch (Whores, Melvins, Helmet, Andrew W.K.).
MEATWOUND began in the Mudhaus circa 2014, maybe earlier. Their debut 12” Addio — which was intended to be a demo — arrived in 2015 (making Macho an inadvertent ten-year anniversary celebration of band activities).
Addio sounded like it was recorded on burning equipment in a burning studio but it managed to win over some listeners, and the Steak Mtn cover art began to appear on shirts around Tampa. Many shows went down during these early years, according to the dates on flyers and posters in the practice space. Shows with Melt Banana, High On Fire, The Melvins, Torche, Black Tusk, Author & Punisher, and others were played. Some in the audience enjoyed it.
In 2017, the band’s second LP, Largo, arrived. A noticeable improvement over Addio, Largo displayed more ambitious song structures, layered noise attacks, better sound overall, and even some (strangely) danceable rhythms. Its lyrics covered topics like cats and life in the city of Largo. Touring occurred to varying degrees of success.
MEATWOUND’s third full-length album, Culero, was released in 2019. The cover featured artwork commissioned by Vincent Locke, most notable for his work for Cannibal Corpse fame. Musically, the band’s sound was expanding; the instrumental “Elders” leaned toward cinematic territory with analog synths courtesy of Matt Akers, “Refusal” was a violent blast that came in under one-minute long, while ‘Fist Of God’ trudged in the direction of Bolt Thrower. Lyrically, vocalist Daniel Wallace continued yelling about longtime targets like religion and politics until the last track where he temporarily drops the ignorance in favor of shouting entire paragraphs “borrowed” from Ray Bradbury. A tour did happen and it wasn’t great. Then Covid happened, and that wasn’t great, either. But after a short break, the band reconstituted.
Enter the Macho era: a slow march progressing in bursts of productivity followed by months/years of refinement. There were multiple demos, rewrites, new tracks built at the last minute, etc. before finally entering Candor Recording Studio in the Summer of 2024. Candor owner/producer/engineer/mastermind Ryan Boesch harnessed the creative nonsense inhabiting the brains of these musicians and maximized the sound of it, remaining patient throughout. Bolstered by the experience and enthusiasm of Boesch, the band delivered something better and worse than before (allegedly).
In advance of the record’s release, today the band presents their first single, “Mount Vermin.” Wallace opted to respond in the persona of “outside source” as follows: “Macho? Old man shit. Inescapable to not mention age when discussing MEATWOUND as most members are hovering around and beyond 50 years of earth living, yet still refuse to leave music creation to the youth. So what do the decades of song writing and instrument playing yield in this situation? Reticence and frustration, a sense of urgency to incorporate more sounds into the fray while taking five years to write, demo, and eventually record the nine new tracks on the album… Recruited a new drummer with a new set of influences to litter about, as can be heard across the record. An electronic shadow drummer also appears a couple times, complicating and perhaps ruining the experience, depending on your palate. More of the pedal abuse masquerading as dynamics. Bass lines somewhere between insult and seduction. People get restless and mutations occur, for better or worse. The arc of MEATWOUND appears to be constant expansion, more melody along with more noise, dialing back the abrasive qualities in one section and multiplying them in another, always angling to first keep it awesome to themselves musically, before stepping back to gauge potential listener attention span. But fuck a listener, right? Idiots.
“‘Mount Vermin’ is a rock song, basically. Probably not written with the specific intention of being it but upon completion, and when compared to other tracks, MEATWOUND’s idea of lead single it is. The band members seem to hear completely different origins listening back to the song, leading to the shaking of heads. Unconscious tribute to Rick Froberg? Distant memories of listening to Slip on cassette in 1993? Somebody still writing songs about ‘vermin’ at 47 years old? It all tracks.”
Stream MEATWOUND’s “Mount Vermin” HERE.
Macho is Threat Collection Records’ debut release and will be available on limited 180gram Pink vinyl and digital formats.
Find preorders at the Threat Collection webshop HERE and Bandcamp HERE.
Macho Track Listing:
Side A
1. Compressed Hell
2. Mount Vermin
3. Obese Variants
4. Labor
5. Frank Stallone
Side B
1. Pigs, Tu
2. Europa
3. Barking Dog As Plot Device
4. Chunk
5. Exodus MF
MEATWOUND:
Ari Barros – guitar
Mariano Iglesias – bass/programming
Dimitri Stoyanov – drums
Daniel Wallace – vocals
https://meatwound.com
https://meatwound.bandcamp.com
https://www.instagram.com/meatwoundusa
https://www.facebook.com/MEATWOUND
https://threatcollection.com
https://www.instagram.com/threatcollectionrecords
https://threatcollection.bandcamp.com
https://www.tiktok.com/@threatcollection