Muck “2009 demo”

Muck is a promising young band from Reykjavík, Iceland whose style flirts with the "skronk"-laden attack of noise rock buried amidst the more pummeling and abrasive side of 90's "metalcore" in a way that kind of reminds me of bands like Ire. They seem to have progressed quite a bit from the similar foundations laid on last year's "Vultures" EP, as these demo tracks are much shorter and more focused, and on this outing they utilize an aptly muddy recording with really raw, stripped down tones that thicken up the mix while still providing a lot of breathing room for the different textures created by the at times loose, angular riffing. Expect a good amount of hammer-on/pull-off runs and all kinds of discordant chord phrasings that allow them to effectively fluctuate between pulsing rhythms and much more frenetic fare—all fronted by that blown-out vocal style that sounds like the dude's just obliterating his throat with truly strained, howling screams. The whole thing flies past in a mere 10-and-a-half minutes, and the more I listen to it, the more I want to hear from these guys. Hopefully a full-length's in the works!

Muck "Vefurinn"

I'm not sure how you can get your hands on this material, so I'd recommend getting in touch with the band via the MySpace link above to investigate further if you like what you hear.