MouthBreather

MouthBreather describe their music as “experimental hardcore,” which is really just a way of saying that their music could arguably classified as three different types of core — hard, grind, and math. On their seven-minute, seven-song EP, Pig, the Boston trio detonate a series of spasmodic, stuttering riffs bathed in hunting knife jabs of calculated distortion. They are just as deft at composing massive elephants marching riffs (“Born Dead,” “Intrigant”) as they are at emulating the anxiety that comes with stick of dynamite’s speedily-burning fuse (“Sex Coward”). At least one song, “Prometheus,” seems specifically designed to induce permanent brain damage.

In other words, Pig is an all-around winner. If I have any complaints about it — other than the brevity of its running time — it’s that the band never quite manages to top the opening track, “Tourniquet.” I think a lot of this has to do with the downright Bucketheadian nature of the leads on this track; they initially sound like an old radio in search of a signal, and then morph into a cascade of sci-fi ray gun shredding. I’m not sure why they chose to forego any such theatrics on the rest of the EP, but it definitely could have made the jams just that much more interesting.

Regardless, this is some great shit, and I implore you to check it out. If these fellas ever manage to book some studio time with Kurt Ballou, it’s gonna be all over but for the counting, know what I’m saying?

Listen to Pig below, then buy it here for as little as £1 ($1.38)!!! - Metal Sucks

A renowned noise maker pointed me in the direction of MouthBreather at the end of last year and he knew exactly how I’d feel about them and I am forever in his debt. I’ve played the seven minute Pig EP enough times since then for it to knock most of last years AOTY shouts a long ways down my listen pile. Manic, mutilated mathcore like this doesn’t come easy, and definitely doesn’t usually start so strong. In the short duration of their debut, MouthBreather splice mathcore stutters with stripped down vocals and all of the nasty laser beam guitars you can play while leaping around stage; the kind that shriek and wail and generally make folk do this face.

The closest current comparison I can/want to make is SeeYouSpaceCowboy and their not so orthodox take on grind. MouthBreather do it with hardcore though (and this isn’t Grind My Gears). “Born Dead” is a better song than most of your top tier hXc bands have ever pulled off and it’s probably not even the best blaster on the EP. Someone wiser than me will tell me what the fuck it’s called but the main chugging component of that huge riff feels just ahead of the beat, something that always perks my waxy ears up. “Tourniquet” and it’s whiplash shift from silence to savagery is the other focus track I guess. The whammy scrapes (maybe?) stamp the chant of “tourniquet, tourniquet, tourniquet” like my favourite shrill moments on “Yippee Ki-Ay Motherfucker” from Danza III. It’s not because of the guitar style as much as how the first time I heard it it brought up the same feelings and again, this face.

All of the elements of great hardcore music are here. Guitar, bass and drums do crunching riffs and huge beats with no fuss or frills (besides the pedal boards involved) but it wouldn’t be as charming without the vocals. Everyone knows hardcore sucks if the vocals aren’t up to it. The manic panic in the delivery is jarring as hell and really gets under the skin and on top of the groove. It’s one of the few things that might distract a potential fan. Any one used to grunting and barking might find themselves a tad distracted by the ‘my house is burning down around me but I need to finish telling you this story’ verses that lash out all over Pig. It’s totally deranged and unhinged and it makes so much sense in the context of explosive mathcore at this level. See “Prometheus” below.

As fleeting as Pig is, the Boston natives make the most memorable of first impressions. If Code Orange is the only modern hardcore sound that you’ve suffered through, then let these debutantes clean out your pipes. If you’ve already been jocking them as hard as I have then congratulations, your fantastic taste has been validated. The only way is forward for MouthBreather and you can bet something not too valuable on it that I’ll be coming back around to them in the future. If someone tells you this isn’t hardcore then they’re probably just a shitty person to begin with and you can just go right on and ignore everything else they say from there on out. - Heavy Blog is Heavy

Mouthbreather is a noisy as fuck metalcore band that pulls a lot of influence from grindcore. From the opening track "Tourniquet" until the very last note rings out, this band has you by the balls. Their music is fast, chaotic and just straight out abrasive. The only time this band lets up during the roughly 10 minute playing time of Pig is when they drop an unexpected breakdown. Everything about this band is aggressive. The buzzsaw guitars and the unrelenting drums compliment the most genuinely pissed off sounding vocals I have heard in a long time. You will definitely be going back to this release multiple times in one sitting to soak everything in. - Worldwide Underground

Boston’s MouthBreather offer 11 minutes of gross, dissonant metalcore on their sophomore EP release, Dollmeat. Building upon the sounds introduced in 2017’s Pig, Dollmeat is a bleak and chaotic recording that is so inconsolably pissed that Jack Nicholson’s character in “Anger Management” couldn’t help it cool off. These seven tracks are chock full of bludgeoning grooves and obtuse breakdowns intermingled with noisy riffs and shrieking guitar sounds. From the galloping beatdown of “Denim Jacket”, to the gruesome pummeling of “Milk/Shit/Dirt”, Dollmeat is a life-ending heart attack from start to finish. Tracks like the jittery “Feeding Time” cycle between vile, grinding breakdowns and off-kilter, rapid-fire noise riffs so that the listener can be properly decimated. Tracks like “Anorexistentialist” echo early deathcore with its disemboweling guitar riffs and emphasis on breakdowns, while cuts such as “Probortion” touch upon early metalcore, modern hardcore and grindcore all within the same song. Dollmeat is grim, mean, and refuses to be tame. Fans of getting their face bashed in will want to take note. - Svbterranean

The Pitch: Boston mathcore/grindcore band Mouthbreather follow up their Pig EP with the arguably even more destructive Dollmeat. FFO: Helpless, Full of Hell, Knocked Loose

What I Like: Maybe I'm just a sucker for panic chords, but I can't get enough of Mouthbreather. I stated in my review of Pig that this band "holds absolutley nothing back," and this is no less true with Dollmeat. The instrumentation continues its carnage with focused, targeted chaos, and the vocals haven't lost any of their larynx-shredding rebellion. Furthermore, I don't hesitate in saying that this album is a stronger outing than its predecessor. Whereas I found myself favoring their debut's first half, Dollmeat more evenly and consistently distributes its strengths. The result leaves me at a loss to choose favorites, though “Probortion” and ”Fratscum” kick things up an extra notch. At least part of this success seems to derive from the band's continued dedication to quality over quantity. Many sophomore outings find bands opting for extended experimentation, but here Mouthbreather have only tacked on an additional 2 minutes to the original 9. They've simply matured further within the confines of this working space. Heh... sounds like my own approach to writing.

Critiques: Clean, pristine, and no buls#!t here. The next step lies in putting a unique stamp on it.

The Verdict: "Brevity is the soul of wit"...and apparently ire as well. Dollmeat is an excellent addition that continues Mouthbreather's clear and sudden upward trajectory. Absolute required listening for mathcore afficianados. Light the fuse. It’s the 4th of July. - Metal Trenches