Thrash attack with funky bass and flashes of hip hop among the shredding guitars – welcome to The Dark Parade, which sets out to grab you by the collar and throw you headlong into the mosh pit, into the mash, into the subculture, into the Bay Area.
Metal men Mordred offer here their first full-length album in more than 25 years (although there have been more recent singles and EPs).
Scott Holderby’s vocals seem to contain the growl and drawl of Iggy Pop, the declarative rants of Rage Against The Machine’s Zack de la Rocha and the sheer “out there”, bug-eyed kookiness of System Of A Down’s Serj Tankian – but since the front man and most of the rest of Mordred have been doing this since the ’80s, they don’t really have to answer or apologise to anyone. Comparisons with fellow San Francisco fusion/groove-meisters Faith No More are inevitable but largely unhelpful.
Singalong choruses abound while the drums (now Jeff Gomes) and geetars (James Sanguinetti and Danny White) are suitably frenetic, even manic, right from scene-setter Demonic #7, a relatively short, hook-filled rocker which benefits from Art Liboon’s bass dexterity. Next up is Malignancy, with more of Aaron “DJ Pause” Vaughn’s hip-hop turntable time-twitching and twiddling. Longer work-outs follow – riff-heavy Dragging For Bodies is well worth its six minute-plus run time and the epic title track (surely the stand-out) maintains a delicious chugalong march, Gomes to the fore, before heading for the syncopated stratosphere with blasts of bawling brass. Closing song Smash Goes The Bottle is a Van Halen-esque anthem waiting in the dark to become a live crowd favourite when we all finally move back into the light.
The eight tracks add up to a crossover feast of genre-bending mash-up, expertly played with a fresh, clean sound. The Dark Parade may be some way short of top, top notch but will invite you to travel through a range of ideas and emotions if you let it into your head. The album is out on all formats including vinyl so stick it on your round table, try to keep calm a lot and quest for your very own grail – these guys are still quality, not just ex-calibre.
The Dark Parade by Mordred is out now on M-Theory Audio.