Band:	Car Bomb
Album:	Mordial
Style:	Math metal, Metalcore
Release date:	September 27, 2019
A review by:	RaduP

01. Fade Out
02. Vague Skies
03. Scattered Sprites
04. Dissect Yourself
05. Xoxoy
06. HeLa
07. Blackened Battery
08. Mordial
09. Eyecide
10. Antipatterns
11. Naked Fuse

*pew pew thr thr pew pew hnghhhhh chug chug ugh*

Ah ladies and gentlemen here we have back with us the power of djenty mathcore. From the suprisingly almost 20 years into the game Car Bomb, who've made quite a name for themselves already, comes Mordial, the follow-up to what has been a lot of people's (including yours truly's) first taste of the madness that is Car Bomb: 2016's Metal. Let's not waste any more words, you should already know by now who Car Bomb are, but let me waste a few more words by telling you how surprised I am that the band has managed to keep the exact same lineup for their entire existence. Now on to the music.

One thing that is great about Car Bomb's approach to mathcore and that may be why they've gathered so much popularity is their sense of melody within the chaos. Whether the clean vocal choruses that go in stark contrast with everything going around them or the riffier moments that feel circle-pit worthy to the almost weightless atmospheric moments, there's a lot to somewhat ease on the ear from the pressure of the constant pressure of the caustic chaos. I'll use "chaos" a lot. Yes, the album is chaotic, that's generally what makes mathcore so damn fun. It's hard to pinpoint exactly what will happen next. So when more melodic moments hit, and when even those feel in opposition to the music, the chaos is fueled.

But chaos is a ladder, one that Car Bomb continue to climb with making Mordial feel wholly unpredictable but rarely unfamiliar. There's never a sense of really pushing outside boundaries, but always a sense of exploring bits within already familiar places. Whether the weird textures and sounds or the mathematical (it's mathcore, duh) percussion or the uncanny clean choruses, there's a constant sense of excitement. It's not the heaviest or the weirdest or the most layered mathcore album, but it's one that managed to play around with all those elements so well and to keep everything from feeling like too much of a chore to listen to. But even so, Mordial is dizzying and confusing. And fun.

There's a clear sense of why Car Bomb are so well regarded and it's honestly fascinating how well they managed to follow-up an album that felt like it could be any mathcore band's dream masterpiece by working on the elements that already worked. Let's hope they can pull this trick again.