When South Wales mountain men Made of Teeth burst onto the scene in 2017, with their self titled 6 track debut album it caused quite the buzz on the heavy music scene. With a history of playing in bands such as Spider Kitten, Lacertilia and Taint you wouldn’t expect anything less. But the question is could they capitalize on that initial excitement with their second output? Cleverly titled “Wealth and Hellbeing,” we are about to find out.
As soon as you hear the opening double blast of “Modr” and “Bite,” you realize that this may be a little bit special. That punishing Today Is The Day/Karp sound is more prevalent than ever, with big heavy bottom end fighting with squealing guitar work, all head in place by a crisp drum sound. Old pal Aaron Dallison from Keelhaul and Ringworm fame is roped in to add some ferocious vocals on “Reap” a thrashier number with a beautiful galloping riff. “Malwoden,” a slower number sees the band lurch slightly into prog doom territory with the vocals kept at a minimum to allow guitar effects to take centre stage and then it’s back to the more punkier style of “Escorts and Rovers,” an absolutely raging track. You can practically hear vocalist Chris West spitting the lyrics out of your speakers as “Vladmir Bootin” slams in. By the way this is band with a serious talent for playing on words. Drummer Steve allows himself a thumping Dale Crover style intro to “Blast Cabal” a track that has serious amounts of groove and as beautiful as it is harrowing we get the last track, the appropriately named “Good Fucking Night” to play us out.
With punchy artwork by the amazing Russell Taysom, the Welsh trio (yep all that noise comes from 3 individuals) really have put together a great package and musically Made of Teeth do exactly what they say on the tin. It’s noise punk and honestly, I’m not sure it’s ever been played this well.