MINORS
Abject Bodies
HOLY ROAR/DEATHWISH INC Canadian misery merchants sharpen up their suffering
Minors Specialise in delivering an uncompromising mix of brutal hardcore served up with a thick dollop of squalid sludge. The fact that they’ve been picked up by both Deathwish Inc and Holy Roar immediately marks them out as a band worthy of your attention. Abject Bodies, the band’s second full-length album comes just 14 months after the release of their debut, Atrophy – an album self-described as an “endless pit of despair”. While that release was generally well-received, at times it could get a little stuck in its thick, tar-like quagmire, a shortcoming that is thankfully absent on this follow-up.
The title track serves as an atmospheric, doom-laden instrumental intro to pull us into to Minors’ murky depths before all hell breaks loose on the savage, skyscraper-smashing punk rock fury of Consumed. Meanderist and Flesh Prison continue the filth and the fury, albeit with a bludgeoning intensity that echoes the sheer chaos of Converge at their most caustic.
Just like the Massachusetts legends, this quartet push themselves to their limit to create a whole far stronger than the sum of its parts.
At seven tracks and a second shy of 30 minutes, Abject Bodies isn’t afraid to deliver its knockouts quickly, but it’s in the album’s second half that Minors really show what they’re capable of. The final two songs, Erode and Garden Of Dismalism, take up approximately half the album’s running time by creating an all-consuming sludgy mire that those with a sadistic streak will ardently wallow in.
Abject Bodies improves immeasurably on its predecessor by expanding its reach and broadening its horizons. It’s a much more ambitious and confident album than Atrophy and is testament to the strides a band can make in a relatively short space of time. Essential listening for nihilists the world over.
■■■■■■■■■■
FOR FANS OF: Converge, Black Breath, Will Haven