Mordred - The Dark Parade

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It’s funny to see that some Metalheads have a deep hate against the use of Groove into Metal and throw the blame on Modern Metal bands (especially on New Metal and Metalcore acts). In reality, such features exist on Metal since its early days, because the influence of Blues, Jazz and Funk are there. Even Tony Iommi and Adrian Smith admit it. And by the way, on the second half of the 80’s, many bands used clean influences from such genres, being one of them the North American sextet MORDRED, using a blend between Thrash Metal with Rap, Hip Hop and Funk touches. But they’re back once more, and after the good EP “Volition”, they’re unleashing a massive energy on their new album, “The Dark Parade”.

They have a usual approach on the North American Thrash Metal School, with melodies sharping the musical violence unleashed on their songs and some clear Hardcore influences, in a trend similar to East Coast bands as ANTHRAX, OVERKILL and NUCLEAR ASSAULT, but the scratches from Hip Hop and Rap are there, creating ghetto-like ambiences. Yes, it’s very good, and the experience made things improve a lot in their musical work, so be prepared to be engulfed by a very good form of music with a manic catchy energy. The production was done in a way to make their music sound clean, violent and heavy as Hell. Everything can be understood clearly, with very good instrumental tunes and a massive energy. Yes, the mixing done by Matt Winegar gave life to their songs, and the artwork of Claudio Bergamín is really amazing.

Musically, MORDRED is on the house, so be prepared by their assault, especially due the work shown on songs as “Demonic #7” (a massive attack of thrashing guitar riffs mixed with Rap vocals and scratches), the hardcorized aggressiveness mixed with melodies on “Malignancy” (the contrasts are excellent, and the groove shown by bass guitar and drums is really very good) and on “I Am Charlie” (where the influence from Rap and Hip Hop are more evident in the rhythms), the perfect blend between all the elements of their music heard on “The Dark Parade” and on “Dented Lives”. But all the eight songs are really very good, so let yourself go into it with force!

The return of MORDRED is justified by the band’s releases, so take a ride on “The Dark Parade”, and enjoy!

Songwriting: 10
Musicianship: 8
Memorability: 9
Production: 9