MEDIOCRACY - Memory Hole

I remember that a few days before the Deftones show last year I met our colleague Tzugu for a beer and, one thing led to another, we ended up talking about Mediocracy. The conclusion was that it was good that we have in Romania bands that move quickly and well for releases and live shows, in Romania and abroad. Negura Bunget is a certainty; we were speaking of bands from the new wave. And so, less than two years later, Mediocracy are at their fourth release. The demo Mediocracy, which appeared on 6 November 2010 in a super-limited edition (only 40 copies) was followed by the first full-length, Human Progress - Endless Regress, released on 24 November 2010 under Asiluum, and on 11 September 2011 they released their second full-length, ASOMA.

Well, here we are now in 2012 and Mediocracy threatens us with a new release, this time an EP, called Memory Hole, supported by Metalfan Records Division and Asiluum. Before starting to talk about the record, I want to mention that Mediocracy have managed to release in two years more materials that other bands release in 10 years! And no, don’t think that there are bands abroad that have released very few materials over a much longer time, such as Pentagram, because it’s a whole other deal. Pentagram are legends and fathers of doom, together with Black Sabbath. Ok, you’ll say, Nunslaughter release records one after another... yes, but these are all sorts of lives, splits and so many EPs in a year that you could make a full length out of them... 

Going back to Mediocracy and their new release. Titled Memory Hole, the product gives us a little over 10 minutes of music alternating crust/hardcore/sludge moments with a lot of elements from other damn interesting metal areas. From references to At the Gates, to insertions of old school black metal, and, of course, devilish thrash metal, Memory Hole has go everything to keep its head up high in the international metal market. Produced by Marius Costache (White Walls, Coins As Portraits, Avatar, Satanochio), like the band’s previous releases, Memory Hole has the best possible sound. Marius, in addition to the fact that he has tremendous experience (probably the most prolific Romanian producer in this genre), has metal in his blood and heart and knows exactly what to do to get the best out of the band. Since I was speaking of people who worked on this material, I can only salute the fact that Stefan "Fane" Panea has returned to extreme music, but honestly I’ve been left with a bitter taste due to the cancellation of Deviant’s Dual Soul Dialogue. Do you remember that band? It was so damn cool. Have I said damn/devil too many times? Perhaps I have, but with such a soundtrack it’s understandable...

The first song of this record is Your Reflection, with its vocals by Viez reminding me of Thomas Lindberg in the early At the Gates, and of what Disfear is doing now. Melody is right at home, Costin Chioreanu’s guitar is in a continuous duel with Radu Ionascu’s, and Para and Fane give a stirring rhythmical gallop. As for the lyrics, Viez, this has the same protest/social side, full of fury and disgust. Full of anger about everything that happens around us, a synthesis of the rage against all the garbage we have to swallow more or less every day. The second song on the record, Arrows, speaks of disappointment, empty hope and the pain it leaves behind. About ignoring problems hoping that they will solve themselves. Instrumentally, the beginning reminds me (for the first seconds) of Kingdom Gone by At the Gates, it’s like I was going to hear Thomas Lindberg shout "Kingdom Gone... Kingdome Fuckin' Gone!!!", but then it’s no longer At the Gates, the riot is in full swing, the song becomes more and more dynamic and provides perfect support for Viez’s vocals. And here we are at the same song of the record. Silent Cries, speaking not only about domestic violence, abuse and madness, but also about the media garbage served to us in great quantities, so much that we tend to get used to it and start even to feel its absence in a morbid way. Some sort of panem et circenses. I will end by saying that Memory Hole is a really solid record (there, I said it again!), and when I say solid i mean both the lyrics that raises a few alarms that really need to be taken into account, but also the band’s instrumental song-writing. Listen, draw your own conclusions and don’t forget to think for yourselves.

H. Nota: 9