A Haunted Metal Carnival of Grooves and Gore
Album Review: Call the Devil by Mushroomhead
CONTIBUTING AUTHOR Abby
What do you get when you combine the groovy riffage of Pantera with the haunted house vibes of Rob Zombie? Mushroomhead’s new record, Call The Devil, which feels like a delightfully macabre romp through a killer clown-infested corn maze, encompassing a myriad of genres that somehow weave together into a cohesive final product.
The Ohio band’s ninth record opens explosively with “Eye to Eye,” which features a fantastically fun country-esque riff and a gnarly breakdown, proving that Mushroomhead is not just making heavy music this time around but also don’t plan on taking themselves too seriously. “Fall In Line” feels like an almost country-techno take on classic metalcore, but with an almost Guns N’ Roses-sounding chorus.
Then the record moves in a more Evanescence-esque direction with “Emptiness,” complete with a clean-tone guitar solo that almost serves as a teaser for the spookier vibes later to come. Out of the record, “We Don’t Care” feels most likely to become an anthem, what with vocalists Jackie LaPonza and Steve Rauckhorst’s layered vocals and a stompy rhythm that happily condones headbanging.
In a sudden left turn, “UIOP (A Final Reprieve)” takes the listener to a haunted carnival, the subtle sounds of a pipe organ infiltrating the track’s four-on-the-floor style and flavoring it with a bit of spook that is continued with “Prepackaged” and “Decomposition.” The latter in particular, with its unnerving carnival music intro and slow, creepy riffage, is sure to make it onto many a metalhead’s Halloween playlist this coming spooky season.
“Grand Gesture” makes yet another hairpin turn, sounding a bit more mournful as somber piano notes weaving in between power chords and haunting lyricism. But just as the listener catches their breath, “Hallelucination” sweeps back in with another hit of haunted-house-on-the-hill vibes. Plus, the riff used in the verse is arguably the most stank-face worthy of the whole record and the chorus is unbelievably catchy.
The three tracks seem to take the listener from the haunted house to the decomposing hospital, starting off with the “Hideous” eerie vocals leaching into muted instrumentation. Then, the record makes another tonal change with “Torn In Two,” which combines the rhythm guitars of groove metal with thrash’s constant barrage of syncopated snare and double kick. As the sort of magnum opus of the record, “Shame in a Basket,” opens, we only hear the soft clicking and whirring of machinery, with the singers’ overlapping vocals emulating the insane ramblings of a serial killer until the listener is smacked in the face with a wall of power chords and double bass.
Finally the record closes with the completely ridiculous “Doom Goose,” which is essentially… haunted house music paired with the squawking of waterfowl. It’s a silly close to a record that seems determined to have fun with itself, and certainly succeeds while keeping true to both Mushroomhead’s aesthetic and the heavy sound they’ve curated.
