Mxrcxl – In Alarm

Mxrcxl – In Alarm

Self released – 2015

Metal, Rock, Alt, Grunge, Punk

Rated: ****

On the A Laughing Matter EP back in 2013 the four guys from Mxrcxl produced a grungy, metallic, punk sound most at home in dusty industrial halls and lusciously overgrown harbor facilities. Now, two years and a whole lot of shows later they return with a full-sized album titled: In Alarm. A continuation of their earlier sound on many a level, but so much better on every level! What growth! They combine every bit of alternative metal and alternative rock to such an amazing degree it’s insane. Among the definite influences one could name, we hear Therapy?, Faith No More, Nine Inch Nails, Jane’s Addiction and Melvins. But that doesn’t do any justice to the band itself, cause it’s so much more than an adding up of influences. They’ve turned into masters of seemingly controlled chaos, they turn their punky aggression into something that always immediately seems to capture your imagination and catches you off guard with its catchiness. Cause for some reason you reckon that this musical violence should not be this addictive. But it is. Alarmingly so. Just listen to those basslines pounce and weave and groove and wreck as the drums follow or leave the exact amount of room for the synths to excel! And then there’s the alarmingly angst ridden voice of lead mogul Marcel Janssen himself and his rumbling guitar sound. Both so excellently pronounced and striking. And with Okko Kokke from Mannheim on alt sax on the final track Happy Shooting, we have a righteous send off into the dark and twisted night. Why only four stars after so much praise and love you ask? I simply cannot get my head around the Roy Orbison cover You Got It. It raises so many questions and puts every fiber in your being on alert… Wait? Is that perhaps the goal? (You Got It!) But even then, it sort of falls out of bounce with the tight emotional rollercoaster that is Mxrcxl! Buy the ticket… Take the ride…

(Written by JK)

Facebook

Bandcamp

Homepage