Review Summary: The Portland based trio's acerbic wit and sweaty intensity brings to mind NIN and Queens of the Stone Age. The records sincerity, however, is what makes it great.
To say that a new and upcoming rock band sounds like Queens of the Stone Age or is perhaps a dangerous thing to do. At the very least, it is overdone. You imply the weight of a legendary and diverse musical catalogue, and pit it against something new; most of the time you are underwhelmed, or find something too derivative. But luckily, Mystrionic's debut is a breath of unique, self conscious, and fully capable air in a scene saturated with rockalikes.
The boys are certainly upset about something, and are here to share that anger with you in the most appealing way possible. Much of the album feels like your best friend wrote you a song to help you bob your head and shake your hips through your utter misery together.
The album starts with the blues inflected "Loose Face." Vocalists Aaron and Spencer seduce their microphones like a much sexier, more dangerous Black Keys. This is another damning comparison in a way, but the playful dissonance and mischievous phrases are far gnarlier than the average blues rock outfit. The guitars sound like a wounded, wanting animal, shamefully stalking prey.
Much of this tension is carried throughout the record, and it fuses itself with the bands overall identity. Mystrionics are as smart as they are mad, as nice as they are ready to strangle someone. This record has a heart, and you can hear it skip a beat, and/or change it altogether, when it gets excited. Black metal blast beats are interwoven with Questlove-style backbeats. Deep, slinking bass-iv lines slither up to choruses only to explode out of the murky, stony ether. But the atmosphere is constant. It is one of this records greatest strengths, that drummer Jeremy Klein didn't just choose a "usable" or "fat" sound and just run with it when mixing. The production on this album is miles ahead of most bands as new as this one, and show a true attention to detail. PNW bands, keep your eyes out for this kid.
As the record progresses, things dart from sexy to angry to weird and back again. "Half Baths" and "Bedside Manor" recall Downward Spiral era NIN with hushed vocals, distorted drums and samples, and an angular circus of off-kilter, shouldn't-be-catchy-but-it-is guitar riffs. "Bedside Manor" plays like Primus meets Led Zeppelin... which is to say at times it will feel literally atonal. But, like so many of the bands referenced in this review, there is always a playful a release, and by this point in the album, you know to have faith long before the fuzzed-out stoner leads warp and crescendo at the end. The album closes with "Disc," an ethereal dirge that possibly takes the cake as the darkest and most surreal song here. "I know how hungry they are, and how much they'll take," croons main vocalist Aaron, as the band drops bombs around him.
The painful, pleasurable sincerity of it all has secured this records place as one of my favorites this year, whether from an established act or up and coming artist. If you're looking for rock and roll with swagger, charm, and plays like there's something up it's sleeve, Mystrionics could be the band for you.
