Misanthropic Aggression - Insect Politics

Misanthropic Aggression is an extreme metal band from Atlanta, Georgia who formed in 2015.  Their latest release, “Insect Politics,” is their full-length debut; they have also released a demo and two EPs.

This album is a blast from start to finish.  Across its 12 track, 38 minute runtime, this duo blazes through death, black, and crust on a ride to hell and back.  It’s fast, catchy, energetic, and groovy as hell.

The crust/hardcore punk aspects of the music works in their favor, such as on the opening song, “Social Ruin.”  It’s short and high-octane–just over a minute of screaming death vocals, blistering rhythms, and riffs for days.  

As soon as that song ends, the title track begins.  There isn’t any rest, no time for a breather–just the next face melting song.  The production is balanced, each instrument throwing out fire that bounces off the walls, hits each other, and finds its place as the song moves perpetually forward.  The middle part is so damn groovy that I almost fell out of my chair headbanging. Forget 0 to 10, this song goes from 10 to 11. 

“A.S.S. III - The Borderland Wars,” is built with a chunky main riff that hammers consistently but held together by slower tempo riffs that add seething rage to the proceedings.  I love the drummer—insane urgency but very crisp and sharp.   The solo is wild—it makes sense in context of the song but definitely walks off the beaten path.

The bass drops like a boulder on “The Gates of Hell,” and then some of the album’s best, most memorable riffs hit.  The rumbling of the drums makes the song thick and nearly palpable.  The song doubles down and speeds up, bringing along with it deep death growls that push the intensity to insane levels. The solo blazes out a path for the last minute of the song to devastate everything to dust. 

At this point, the band is moving through the album, dropping one banger after another.  “Intentional Under Performance,” begins like it was already playing by the time the music reaches my ears.  This song is on fire—the double bass is meaty as fuck and I could fell it destroy my ears through my exploding headphones.  At the 2:11, thrashy, catchy riffs that would make THE CROWN proud end the song the only way they could.

The final song is “Eusocial Demesne,” and it’s one of the longest on the album at just over six minutes.  The time is well spent, offering thrashy moments that transition to blackened ones and then move onto the brutality of death metal.  The movement from 2:55 to 4:02 is an unforgiving nightmare of carnage and one of the album’s many highlights.

Misanthropic Aggression’s “Insect Politics,” is an untamed band playing inhospitable music.  They take all the bullshit in the world and give it a big middle finger while throwing the horns up on the other hand.