Back in the 80s I was at Junior School when The Beastie Boys’ “Fight For Your Right To Party” came out. I didn’t know who Slayer’s Kerry King was, but I knew I liked the mix of guitar and other stuff.
It was rare back then, Aerosmith and Run DMC, Anthrax and Public Enemy. Hell, I remember the rows in the mid-90s in Kerrang when they covered The Prodigy. It seems so stupid now.
Australia’s Mammal know this. Not for nothing do they start “The Penny Drop” with a Guns N Roses reference – and yes, I know where we are. We’re in the melting pot, baby, we’re going down.
“Moscow” is a beauty. Think Dog Eat Dog circa “No Fronts”, while the title track dusts off its nu-metal and gets in the moshpit. But it’s savvier than that. Ox, the leader of this here shindig since 2006, is many things but he’s also a political activist dedicated to “smashing the fash” so let’s go.
“People don’t even know what’s real” they thunder on the metal “Keanu Reeves” and if we’re through the Matrix, let’s have the utterly mighty groover of “Slings And Arrows” and its rap to go with it.
“We’re not” they chant here, “quite ready to accept your end game” and it is clear. You’re with Mammal or against them. Don’t bother with in-betweens.
Whatever the messages here, it also has to be said this is tremendous fun too. “Hit Me” nails punk, “Doubt” nails modern arena rock (there are US bands on the cover of Metal Hammer with less than this) and if to underline that anything goes, the second half this kicks off (and it would, given half the chance) with “Agree To Disagree” – and if you want to get a review on MV then the line “guillotine the billionaires and on with the show” might be the way to do it.
This is the opposite of corporate safety in every way. The question “Why?” is always met with “Why not?” and “Bottom End” is the result, “Live Bold And Dangerous” is the sort of thing that would make Beavis and Butthead want to break stuff (and why not – we’re smashing the system after all).
Just when you think you’d seen it all from the band then along comes “Maybe”. The longest thing here, it is as close as this gets to a ballad, lurking and planning an attack more likely.
“Make It Count” seems like a mission statement – and I mean that in its loosest sense as I can’t imagine them actually having such a thing – while “Five Days” ends things in appropriately belligerent fashion.
I read an interview with Mike Patton once when they called him “The Godfather of Nu Metal” and he retorted: “Don’t blame me for Limp Bizkit”. Yet, I cannot imagine a world where music this daring gets made without Faith No More.
And to return to the theme of “smash the fash”. Here’s the thing the Lee Anderson’s, the Tommy Robinson’s and the Suella Braverman’s of this world don’t get (at least until Sir Kier inevitably accepts them into the Labour Party….ahem!). There’s more uniting us than dividing us. I’ve got more in common with the people on the small boats than those stopping them. We’re all Mammal’s and one day the penny will drop.
Rating 8.5/10
