MTNS
All Songs Are Spells [CS/LP; Trench Art]

How apropos that MTNS would release All Songs Are Spells on Trench Art, for this album is a collection of discarded and abused paraphernalia collected from the barbs and ditches of the decaying old world. Call it the remnants of war—either the literal bombardment of cities and smacking on flesh with projectiles or the figurative one where one band must be fed to another to satisfy the blood lust of record company competition. From that smoggy bog, soaked to the bone in the matter of victory comes MTNS, a boisterous duo carving out an aptly designed trench through the heart of Seattle’s stagnating national face. You are lying face down in the muck from the armaments of Macklemore, bearded folkies, and chewed bubblegum acts masticated on network television for millions. There are some noisy folks and cool labels, sure, but when I left it was clear the city was becoming a wasteland to apathy and trends. MTNS harkens to the days of Green River, when no one knew anything about Seattle except it rained all the time (it doesn’t) and it had a giant needle as a middle finger to those who would curse its drugged history. MTNS is that giant appendage erect in common step with the 90s scene of New England, not the Pacific Northwest. This Arab on Radar levels of marching aggression; Lightning Bolt assaults on traditional constructs of what “pop” is and what should be. All Songs Are Spells is far from perfect but that’s what makes it worth the penance. MTNS surveys the hyperbolic landscape of this so-called war analogy and does nothing more than play among the ruin. There is no hype or need to be part of the problem. Seattle is more than every expectation people like me have sold you for a few more blog hits and access to bands that will be erased from existence in a decade. MTNS won’t be, just like those who came before them in a scene tied to no location or aesthetic, just the idea that rock is loud, talk is cheap, and showmanship still counts for something when it’s just you and the crowd stuck knee deep in the trench. They fashioned this album from the rubble, so do your patriotic duty and listen.

Links: Trench Art

Cerberus

Cerberus seeks to document the spate of home recorders and backyard labels pressing limited-run LPs, 7-inches, cassettes, and objet d’art with unique packaging and unknown sound. We love everything about the overlooked or unappreciated. If you feel you fit such a category, email us here.

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