Review: Muscle Vest ‘Hot Hot Hate’ EP
Creeping outta the dark corners of London and seeping into the shadows of your mind comes Muscle Vest. Gloriously brutish, mangled and tortured, and undeniably fucked off, this quintet lay waste to eardrums and pop sensibilities with just a few stray chords and expose the cruel underbelly of our modern world.
After forming in ’18, Muscle Vest have had a few releases under their belts. The newest, an Extended Play called Hot Hot Hate is a raging wall of sound, discordant guitar riffs, a rhythm section that rolls through your soul like an outta control Mack truck and some snarling fucking vocals that never even hint at subtlety, not even for a second.
Opening with The Slaughtered Lamb (wasn’t that the pub in An American Werewolf In London; maybe one of these dudes was conceived there…), which is a lumbered meat-axe of a tune, and kinda reminiscent of the angsty elements of Gang Of Four (never a bad thing!). Dave Rogers howling pipes reek of a hatred of how cold the world can be for some and seem to be railing against social injustices at the same time.
Hot Hot Hate is an aggro, snarling little beasty from go to woah…
Don’t Dream continues on this path, lyrically, and is overdressed for the occasion with a shitload of feedback and ‘bad’ energy. Just a lazy stroll down some shattered streets of broken dreams I guess! Lo and behold, Solitary Life seems to be a warming tale of romance, love and happy endings. Yeah, right! Drenched in screaming guitars and the manic chant of ‘SOLITARY LIFE, SOLITARY LIFE’ lets us know in no uncertain terms the view Muscle Vest have on life.
Bringing things to a close is Fun Imaginative Murders. The twin guitars throw out some tasty little riffs through this grindy ode to murder. There’s no lack of discordance and feedback either!
On the whole, Hot Hot Hate is an aggro, snarling little beasty from go to woah. The pain and anguish shot through the vocals fits the style like a glove and are backed by a ballsy as fuck band. I guess they fall under the punk moniker, but there’s also a huge wad on cocky rock ‘n’ roll ‘tude mixed in, and this release is a cool listen.
Label: Prank Monkey Records
Band Links: Bandcamp | Instagram
Scribed by: El Jefe
