Heavy Meta Offer an Energetic Demise In a "Caffeine Casket" (Early Track Stream)
My reaction to first hearing Heavy Meta‘s debut album Mana Regmata was an unusual combination of two feelings: one, increasing bewilderment, and two, an exponentially climbing appreciation of what the Massachusetts band was able to accomplish. I wasn’t really sure what was going on, but I did know that I loved it. The group, which features members of progressive black metal band In Human Form, seems to have purposefully conspired to thwart short-form summaries of what they sounds like, combining progressive metal, mathcore, metallic hardcore, and more into a grab-bag of loud noises that revolves around a sinister, sardonic tonality and an arresting command of rhythm. Erratic and thrashy heavy metal riffs power much of the album, but they’re delivered with jubilant atonality and made to contend with scrawling leads and unhinged vocals that trace insane outlines around this steely core. At times incorporating warm synths, clean vocals, and moments of startling sonance, Mana Regmata grips the listener with a consistent narrative that completely belies the musical unpredictability of it all. Realistically, it’s just one of those things you need to hear to fully understand, and we’re premiering a new single “Caffeine Casket” below to assist with that.
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“Caffeine Casket” opens up with an ambient, haunting introduction that seems like the antithesis of the chaotic madness I described above and lasts just long enough that I might seem like a liar—but sure enough, a minute in, a jagged riff kicks in with demented vocals to match. Though the song stays tightly locked in to its groove, things get weird in short order with some choral vocals, spidery lead work, and other surprises. It’s not the full album—stay tuned for that next month—but “Caffeine Casket” is an encapsulated cross-section of the nonsensical, alluring machinery that spins within Heavy Meta.
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Mana Regmata will release on February 11th independently through the band’s Bandcamp page.
