Meatwound â Macho Review
By Tyme
I was shocked when my helmet light sputtered out while spelunking some of the sump pitâs darker, less-traveled caverns recently. As I waited for my eyes to adjust to the gloom, I noticed something bright and pink glimmering in a recess of mossy rock. That âsomethingâ was Macho, the fourth album from Tampa, Floridaâs hardcore sludge noise-mongers Meatwound, and I used its luminescent shimmer to help guide me back to headquarters. Outside of the great band name and cover art giving me strong Warhol meets Boris vibes, I wasnât familiar with Meatwound and their wares, so I researched. I read a few interviews, dug into the back catalog, and worked my way up from Meatwoundâs 2015 debut, Addio, to 2017âs Largo and then 2019âs Culero, replete with cool Vincent Locke cover art. I learned that Meatwound, aside from churning through drummers like Spinal Tap,1 like to expand their sound on each release without betraying their roots. I sat down, explorations complete, to give Macho a spin, wondering what wrinkle of the Meatwound sound had evolved this time.
Meatwound generally plays a form of hardcore-tinged, boisterously dissonant noise-rock that, on Macho specifically, is combined with some electronic industrialism. Once best described as a mix of The Jesus Lizard and Sepultura, Meatwound themselves arenât sure what they sound like these days and are content, even amused, to hear what bands the critics and fans compare them to. For my money, think what a collaboration between Unsane, Whores., and Godflesh might sound like, and youâd be in the ballpark here. The core of Meatwoundâs sound remains rooted in Mariano Iglesiasâ driving, punky bass lines coalescing with the dissonantly noisy chords and riffs of Ari Barrosâ garage-band-on-GHB guitar work, and thereâs plenty of both on Macho (âMount Vermin,â âEuropaâ). But there are also pulse-pounding synth beats, percussive samples, and some power electronics (âBarking Dogs As Plot Deviceâ) at play that, when added to the mighty, hardcore-esque roars of Daniel Wallace and the steady-handed pounding of new drummer Dimitri Stoyanov, make it tough to beat Meatwound for blunt-force trauma. Interestingly, the hybrid tracks on Macho, molding the old ways with the new approach, are most compelling.
Building off Culeroâs experimental track âElders,â Machoâs expansion into the industrial reflects a Meatwound thatâs doing what they want, listeners be damned. Album opener âCompressed Hellâ introduces us to Meatwoundâs hybrid experiment right out of the gate, as it builds off of pulsing synths with layers of stick-snapping tom beats and Danâs screaming snarls before transitioning into full Meatwound mode, a cacophonous swirl of noisy riffs, drums, and punchy bass. Similarly constructed and even more effective is the album highlight âFrank Stallone.â A most Godfleshic track that starts with deeply ominous synth tones, delicately percussive samples, and Danâs aggressive, vacuous shouts before blowing up like a trailer park meth lab in explosions of beasty bass, swirling dissonance, and dentist-drill guitar shrieks; a perfect example of how Meatwound can successfully mix the two elements like mad chemists, yet not all the elixirs worked.
Two and a half minutes of Machoâs preciously short thirty-three-minute runtime donât land, tipping the experimental scales too far. âBarking Dog As Plot Deviceâ is two minutes of a statically constant, power-industrial noise tone accentuated with periodic, heartbeat-like, bassy synth beats underneath Danâs wailing hardcore shouts. The track seemed out of place and distracting but not as off-putting or momentum-disrupting as the thirty-one-second âChunkâ2 which, as far as I can tell, is either some random field recording or otherwise meaningless electronically created bit. Produced by Ryan Boesch, who also owns and operates freshly launched label partner Threat Collection Records, Macho is loud. However, the mix and master fits Meatwoundâs style and harnesses their chaotic energy effectively.
Made up of former members of acts like Combatwoundedveteran, The Holy Mountain, and Headless Dogs, Meatwound has spent the better part of a decade carving their niche into the metalverse. By and large, and in exponential fashion, theyâve succeeded. With no real expectations, I was pleasantly surprised by Meatwoundâs Macho, and aside from a couple of minor missteps, it works. Itâs worth a listen, and, if nothing else, Machoâs hot-pink aesthetic might help guide you out of any unexpected darkness you might find yourself in.
Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320kbps mp3
Label: Threat Collection Records
Websites: Bandcamp | Meatwound.com
Releases Worldwide: May 9th, 2025
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