Album Review: Bornwithhair – Radical Moon (Self Released)

Bornwithhair is an extreme metal band exploring the role of the outsider and the eccentric in society. Where the band’s initial singles delved into the psyches of monsters and magicians, Bornwithhair’s debut album — Radical Moon — mostly examines the lives of a cast of misfits who in their own way contributed to the Allied cause in World War II.

Hopefully these songs serve two purposes, band-leader Weirding said. They help tell the stories of these misfits who contributed their eccentricities and brilliance to stopping the Axis, and they help delineate a line in the sand about where we stand today and what we stand for as a metal band.

Radical Moon is out on February 21st 2020.

It’s a peculiar start to Bornwithhair’s debut with the very challenging and unconventional, GALCIT 53. The jabs of guitars, the discombobulated vocals, sudden screeches of noise, the shifting tempo…it’s very messy but it would be a lie to say it doesn’t intrigue.

Intrigue that builds as Lammas Eve 1940 continues to challenge conventional states of extreme metal. Here though, there is a bit more sense and some form of order which makes it much more engaging.

A wilder and jam-session style guitar trip awaits on Hex Party, short and just as unusual as everything else before and everything else afterwards.

Talking of which…This Grimoire Kills Fascists really pushes the limits. Something that is based in noise, a scraggy guitar rhythm breaks through while distant and eerie vocals ring out in the background. This is going to have some people scratching their heads.

It doesn’t get any easier with Nonemaker, although the perkier beat is welcome. Of course, it’s far from as simple as that. Broken and concealed, the rhythm continues to push and pull the mind all over the place. However, this is by far the best track on the album.

The peculiarity is coming to an end and with some fuzzy doom riffs, Witches Dance messes with the mind some more. Before In Nocturnal Report creates a downright maddening experience to end Radical Moon. It’s perplexing and something that really will divide opinion but you have admire Bornwithhair’s risk-taking.

Bornwithhair – Radical Moon Full Track Listing:

1. GALCIT 53
2. Lammas Eve 1940
3. Hex Party
4. This Grimoire Kills Fascists
5. Nonemaker
6. Witches Dance
7. In Nocturnal Rapport

Links

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