No one plays sludgy hardcore grind quite like the UK’s Mastiff. Not that many people play sludgy hardcore grind to begin with, but if they’re out there, they don’t play it like these Kingstun upon Hull lads. True to their canid namesake, which, if you saw them casually out for walkies in your neighborhood, would illicit a “Jesus Christ, that’s a big dog” exclamation, Mastiff shock with the weight and size of their sound. When I reviewed their record Plague five years ago, I likened the experience to “…being force-fed a sack full of muddy gravel and then taking body blows from a heavyweight boxer for 32 minutes.” I somehow missed their follow-up Leave Me the Ashes of the Earth until well after its release, so I made sure to snatch up fourth LP Deprecipice as soon as it became ensnared in the Promo Pit. I’m happy to report Mastiff have lost none of the gentle grace and subtle emotional elegance of their previous work. Because they never had those things to begin with.
By the band’s own admission, Deprecipice leans harder into their hardcore sound than past efforts. Many of our readers who cut their teeth on heavy music in the early to mid-aughts or after will immediately get the wrong idea, equating hardcore with melodic screamo or other unfortunate metalcore hybrids. Mastiff’s take on hardcore is a hulking breakdown beast that crashes through the wall and eats panicked, scurrying metalcore bands. If Strife was twice as heavy and somehow even more pissed off, you’d get something like Mastiff, except the latter will occasionally let up on the gas, downshift for torque, and play the most gut-churning sludge doom (see: second half of “Void”). If you know their previous work, there are still grind-y blasts here and there, like the appropriately titled “Skin Stripper,” as well as some experimentation with noise, like interlude track “The Shape” and “Cut Throat,” a song featuring American sludge monsters Primitive Man. This track especially reminds me of the stark collaborations between Full of Hell and The Body, which is a good thing.
When I listen to Mastiff, I think of the wrestling cheer I used to hear all the time in high school about being aggressive1, until Mastiff would crash through the wall and eat the panicked, scurrying cheerleaders, wrestlers, coaches, refs and spectators. It’s hard to overstate how angry this music is, at times reaching the same levels of intensity as peak Strapping Young Lad, albeit in a different genre and without that touch of psychosis. There are gigantic, wild-eyed breakdowns all over Deprecipice, usually punctuated by Jim Hodge’s vein-popping declarations of fucked-ness, like when he vomits out “We’re so close to the fucking end!” on “Void” or “Fuck this world! Let it fucking burn!” on “Pitiful.” If you’ve been wondering if you should use any of these songs for your upcoming wedding processional, I’ve just given you the answer. You should. Obviously. It would be easy to read these lyrics and cynically chalk them up to edgy youth, but these are no kids, and it’s all played with such world-weary conviction that it automatically activates any part of you that’s angry about anything.
As well as Mastiff play this style of hardcore-forward sludge, and they play it very well, I do miss the way they balanced their amalgamated styles on Plague. Things are all just a bit sharper and cleaner on Deprecipice, from the production job to Hodge’s vocals, which had previously been a kind of strangled bark, but now sound much closer to more traditional hardcore and grind vocals. It’s still some damn gritty music, but it’s been even grittier and uglier in the past, and my preference tips toward that. Still, these quibbles are minor, and I expect those who weren’t as thrilled with their sludge doom rabbit trails on past releases will probably appreciate the leaner, equally mean Mastiff of 2024.
I’ve been looking forward to this release for some time, and it hasn’t disappointed. I sense a few metalheads will read that it leans towards hardcore and decide to write it off. To them I say that I look forward to the moment they panic as Mastiff crash through their wall to eat them. Deprecipice is a twisted, angry shriek at an increasingly uncaring world. It’s exactly as cathartic as it sounds.
Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: MNRK Heavy
Websites: mastiffhchc.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/mastiffhchc
Releases Worldwide: March 22nd, 2024
