In Shoals [Slimline] (CD - 2009)

Personnel: Nico (vocals); Simon (guitar); Filip (bass instrument); Paul (drum).

Striving to defy genre pigeonholing, the Berlin-based quintet War From a Harlot's Mouth unveils its sophomore effort of rambunctious metalcore laced with skilled jazz fusion. IN SHOALS is a vast improvement on their austere 2007 debut, TRANSMETROPOLITAN. With manic syncopation, vicious energy, and Mr. Bungle-esque time signatures, War From a Harlot's Mouth nimbly avoid any specific genre, yet offer an album so dynamic that multiple listens are required to absorb its multifaceted textures.

War from a Harlots Mouth is an arty grindcore band that occasionally nods toward jazz and progressive rock, but basically keeps it stripped down and raucous. If you like bands like Discordance Axis, Antigama, or Brutal Truth, you'll probably like them quite a bit. Every member of the band demonstrates total command of his instrument, including vocalist Nico, who switches back and forth between a guttural roar and a bloody-throated screech seemingly without blinking. The group has all the discipline of grindcore and death metal, but leaps into space when the mood strikes them. The jazzy guitar solos in the middle of "Justice from the Lips of the Highest Bidder" and "Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Errorism" are a surprising and welcome touch, especially when combined with the almost Nine Inch Nails-esque drums and sputtering electronics that fill out the rest of the former track. The minute-long "Copyriot," by contrast, is a burst of raw adrenaline that ends with raucous in-studio laughter and applause. And the album's longest track (at eight-and-a-half minutes, it's more than twice as long as anything else on the disc), "Scully," is a sludgy epic with militaristic drum barrages keeping things moving forward like a square-wheeled tank. An improvement over 2007's slightly more disjointed Transmetropolitan, this disc showcases a talented young band with a long future of dystopian ranting and complex riffing ahead of them. ~ Phil Freeman minimize