Bullhead - Methcrush

Bullhead is a metal band from the UK, who formed in 2016.  After releasing two demos, they are ready to unleash their debut EP “Methcrush.” Their press release said the album is made up of “pure noisy, abrasive sludge metal with bits of crust punk, black metal, and death metal thrown in, too.”  

Well, the band certainly knows who they are and what they play because that description is straight up on point!  This five track EP with a run time of just over 20 minutes packs more energy and power than a lot of full-lengths I’ve heard in the past year.  

Its crust punk aesthetic is against the grain—unbelievable raunchy atmosphere with the attitude to back it up.   The guitar tone is killer—sludgy as hell with fuzz that’s layered in poisonous spikes.  There is more than enough groove in the guitars/bass to make this violent noise headbanging and, surprisingly, more catchy than it has any right to be. 

The vocals go a long way with the album’s ability to make music that sounds like a car crash—blackened screams and growls that seemed as if they were going to reach out of the speakers and throttle me. The production is actually one of the best aspects of the album—its raw, dirty, full armed and fucking filthy! Since it's only five songs, I'll say a little about each of them.

The opening song is “Alabama Dry Socket.” I've been to Alabama once and it was a disgusting state and if I ever go there again, it will still be too soon.  Is this song the soundtrack of walking through its alleys and being stalked by drugged out zombies? If not, it needs to be. 

Up next is the title track; the bass is a beast and sets up the groove the other instruments rip through. This song highlights the fervor of the drums. They bash and crash their way through but they compliment the song like flesh ripping wind compliments the path of a tornado’s destruction.  The guitars tread the line between noise and groove but multiple listens reveal actual notes, just ones coated in poison spikes.  The transition between abrasive screaming and a hardcore style death growl is fantastic!

“Finrot,” opens with what could amount to melody for a band such as this but all that is washed away by the depravity of the vocals and the punk energy. Starting at about the halfway point around the 1:45 mark, the band enters a pulverizing jam session that’s just crushing riff after crushing riffs, all of which is being hammered into oblivion by the drums. 

“83 Days of Sodom,” is probably my favorite on the album.  The opening is huge and vast—instantly crushing and encompassing.  It’s the longest song on the album so it seems they used the time to really give this song a lot of violent depth.  I just love the contrast between the insane vocals and the almost stoner-ish vibe of the bass.  The tempo increasing throughout the song makes it feel like it’s falling down a flight of stairs, collecting every broken bone and scrape along the way. 

The final song is “Christbestos,” and it is so damn frantic.  The drums take what is already a vicious burst of perpetual motion and push it to another level.  After the three minute mark, the song delves into wild noise, nearly alien in its depravity.

Bullhead’s “Methcrush,” is a short but very powerful EP that contains punshining music that still mixes in a lot of different styles for a surprisingly dynamic approach to a new level of pain.