HARLOTS

Do not listen to HARLOTS' "Betrayer" with a hangover, unless you're a pain freak that enjoys music that turns an annoying headache into a pounding migraine. If you have experienced prolonged exposure to bands like SWARM OF THE LOTUS and PREMONITIONS OF WAR, then you will know exactly what I'm talking about. The quartet unleashes wave upon wave of spastic grind blasts and technical savagery that subsides only when the band sees fit to cease with the body blows and move into bassy, ISIS-like territory.

Much of the material hits with SOTL/POW abandon, wasting no time by launching into it on album openers "The Weight Unweighable" and "Avada Kedavra". Those first tracks are jarring as hell, even through the sub par mix. It is not until "Full Body Contortion" and the injection of just a pinch melody in the patterns and some brief "singing" amidst the chaos that one realizes that HARLOTS is no one trick pony. The dreamy, bass-floating fare is in full swing on "Dried Up Goliathan" and serves to break up the pacing without seeming out of place. The merciless pummel continues with the tracks that follow (interrupted momentarily with a little tunefulness on songs like "This is a Test, No Flesh Should be Spared") until one gets to the album's lengthy capstone. "Suicide Medley" is an 11-minute journey with long sections of diaphanous bliss mixed with heavy, albeit slower, material that also works well.

As noted previously, the only problem is a mix that is too muddy, and is especially problematic for the heavy tunes. The sound clarity suffers because of it. For the most part though, the music is just good enough to overcome the obstacle. Add a half point or so if you can look past the recording issue.