MGF Reviews Misguided Aggression – Hatchala

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Misguided Aggression – Hatchala
Year of the Sun Records (3/17/09)
Metal

Misguided Aggression may just be the Great White North’s answer to Lamb of God. On Hatchala, the Ontario quintet serves up a slab of brutal, in-your-face, fist-pumping metal.

Eight tracks clocking in at just over 26 minutes might lead one to think that te band took a single-minded approach to the recording, offering up quick blasts of metal with little variation. Such is not the case. Instead, Misguided Aggression uses the chug-a-chug template and folds in elements of groove, clean vocal melodies, slight hints of hardcore (think Unearth) and prog-based breakdowns (earning the band comparisons to Meshuggah). (And you can blame the short running time on a couple of instrumental interludes, the opening title track and “The Palamnaeusus Fulvipes”, which acts like a coda for the preceding track more than a stand-alone song.)

There are crushing head-bangers (“Pigs in the Market” and “Our Kingdom Come”) and more expansive, complex opuses, too (the systematic dirge of “Mustard Gas & Roses” which features one of the most blood-curdling howls this listener has heard in some time, and “Flesh to Gold”).

But the track that truly stands out from the pack, and one that will probably ultimately be one of the best metal anthems of the year, is “Faces of Abomination”. The track utilizes the best of what Misguided Aggression has to offer: sick breakdowns, unbridled groove, thick riffs and glorious howls. The song marks the only time the band opts to throw in the slightest clean, melodic vocals (dropped way down in the mix), and also features this nice little trick of slowing the song down to an almost-standstill, adding to its urgent feel.

At 26 minutes, the whole trip is over far too soon, and you’ll soon find yourself reaching for the repeat button. Bands like this sometimes like to overstay their welcome, but Misguided Aggression should have no fear with exploring this metallic soundscape again and again. Highest recommendation to fans of straight-ahead metal.

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Jonathan Widro is the owner and founder of Inside Pulse. Over a decade ago he burst onto the scene with a pro-WCW reporting style that earned him the nickname WCWidro. Check him out on Twitter for mostly inane non sequiturs