meth. – SHAME | Album Review

As abrasive as their name suggests, Chicago’s experimental metal project meth. channel personal trauma into furious sonic punishment with their anxiety inducing second album SHAME.

Making themselves known for their unique take on mathcore, Chicago’s meth. have always channeled emotionally complex and painful themes into their music. Their 2019 debut album Mother Of Red Light revelled in almost torturing their audience with some of the most oppressive, noisy and challenging mathcore available; at times channeling full blast-beat grindcore with complex rhythmic shifts, in others delving into all encompassing drones and experimental soundscapes, however their focus was always rooted in the mathcore space. Coming together to collaborate as a full band, meth.’s follow up SHAME is something else entirely, firmly establishing itself in the experimental, industrial/noise world, whilst retaining the frenetic and unstable edge the band are known for.

“Doubt” introduces the monstrous soundscapes from the off, sounding like a death metal 45rpm single played at 33rpm instead, the down tuned pummelling chug is overwhelming and oppressive. Noise drenched guitars play clashing dissonant chords between muted chords; pained vocal howls cut through the filth, internal torture personified in the call and response vocals becoming demonic in their delivery. It doesn’t let up, the five minute track is unrelenting in its audible punishment. Even when there is a brief moment of peace, leaving just the guitars hitting angular bends, the end result is still anxiety-inducing, the tension waiting for the band to burst back in is almost too much. Seamlessly flowing into the following track “Compulsion”, meth. continue to cultivate horrifying soundscapes that completely engulf the listener, almost literally with the tracks opening feeling akin to being caught in the eye of a storm and pinned to the ground by the howling winds around you. 

It becomes clear fairly quickly that this is not an album of earworms, hooks and catchy melodies. Guitarists Zack Farrar and Michael McDonald work together as two sides of the same coin, curating intense and claustrophobic dissonant noisescapes, only occasionally offering up something that bares a passing resemblance as melodic. The driving force behind the movement of the album is the rhythm section, both Andrew Smith’s multifaceted and complex drumming patterns and Nathan Spainhower’s mind-melting basslines. This is all complimented by the range of excellent vocal deliveries from Seb Alvarez, regularly matching the intensity of his vocal performance to the painfully vulnerable lyricism that draws from his real life pain and trauma. All of this is excellently captured and processed by the production team duo in the form of recording engineer Zack Farrar (Frail Body) and mix & master engineer Colin Marston (Imperial Triumphant, Altar Of Plagues, Panopticon), allowing for clarity even at meth’s darkest moments.

“Blush” showcases a little more of the bands prior work, making for a nice change of pace. Opening with a frenetic burst of blast beats with a thrash guitar riff intro, it gets the blood pumping… but it doesn’t last long, swiftly moving back into earth cracking low-end rumble, the kind of nihilistic sludge that could give Primitive Man a run for their money. Making for arguably the most interesting track, “Give In” remains as bleak as its name implies, but is centred around a proggy drum groove. The track as a whole feels a bit more on the psychedelic side of the noise world, dropping the heavily layered distortions at regular intervals to give a softer sound, allowing the juxtaposed earth crushing drones to have an even greater impact. 

The introductory passage of “Cruelty” is really reminiscent of the nauseating chaos of avant-garde black metallers Imperial Triumphant, taking joyous pleasure in the churning and sudden rhythmic shifts paired with the uncomfortable dissonant melodies on offer. Title track “Shame” fully embraces the industrial and no-wave aspects the band have toyed with, sitting somewhere between acts like Leeched, Chat Pile and EYES. The vocals become more unhinged as the song continues, musically swapping between a tom-focussed methodical pace and a dizzying, anxiety-inducing melodic rise, building tension and discomfort, returning to that nauseous churning feeling. 

Album closer “Blackmail” is a complex and dramatic finale, like the soundtrack to a horror film that refuses to break tension across its eight and a half minute run. The band have been building to this slowly but surely, maximising the chaos they’ve been cultivating; playing with madness as the riffs and patterns subtly change and shift, speeding up, slowing down, slightly altering pitch, inducing insanity. The final climax is breathtaking and choking, building and building for a cathartic wrecking ball that demolishes the nerve shaking chaos. Album ends abruptly, no longer ringing out the drones and bleeding, SHAME just ends.

Its obvious that meth. wanted to make their second album as challenging an experience as possible for themselves and their listeners. Is it for everyone? Absolutely not, the constant churning atmosphere, nauseating rhythmic shifts and the torturous vocal performance are unnerving and difficult to sit through at times. Does this mean its a bad album? Again, absolutely not, meth. have achieved the artistic goals they’ve set out for themselves. This is an incredibly bleak album, musically and lyrically exploring worlds of real internal traumas and suffering, of unchecked deteriorating mental health, addiction issues and losing sight of the light. It can be a bit much at times, depending on the listener that can absolutely make or break the album; but for those psychotic thrill-seekers willing to challenge themselves with uncompromisingly challenging experiences, then meth are here to give you one hell of a ride.