Mental Phlegm – Mental Mucus (Recommendation)

In 2020, the first demo by South German Death / Crust combo Digest! found resonance in the Death Metal scene, bringing you a convincing hybrid between the aforementioned genres with Hard to Digest. Now, play-it-all mastermind Tommi is back with another project called Mental Phlegm having released the first demo Mental Mucus last year. This time, Death Metal is not fused with Crust but rather Grindcore yet giving the latter even more focus.

Frankly, this is Grind to the core blasting your ass off from front to back one more time showcasing that it seems as if the people (person) behind this project is capable of effortlessly throwing out recommendable music. What you get on this release is blast beats, an emphasis on chunky and blasting riffs yet also sometimes slightly technical riffing and consistent tribute to the most important originators of the genre.

In my last review of Digest!, I compared the voice to Debauchery yet I have to revise that statement for this release and actually admit that it bears resemblance of the early voice of Chris Barnes – and don’t get me wrong – I’m not talking about nowadays faded “Ehhhh” irrelevant Chris Barnes but about the voice of early Six Feet Under when they were still good as on Haunted. I really favor that voice and this is probably also something that made Mental Mucus very catchy for me. Apart from that, especially the production of this release is striking regarding the fact that it is most probably again entirely self-produced by Tommi yet it still blasts at highest frequency.

The memorable and catchy sound on this release is damn convincing especially regarding “Growing in the Abdomen” that is a headbanger delivering an insane chorus that’s gonna be stuck with you for days. Apart from the fact that Mental Mucus reminds a lot of US American original representatives of Grindcore, it still bears this “hasty” playstyle that I associate with early British Grindcore – especially with Napalm Death on Scum. The drums definitely deliver the bridge between conveying Death Metal, Grind or sometimes also Crust sequences with blasts, Punk patterns and occasional D-Beat. Regarding the fact that this project again lists Tommi as only member, it can be assumed that the drums are programmed with a drum computer and I think it still does not step into the forefront, merging with the Grindcore sound and naturally pushing it to the front. Additionally, on tracks such as “Get inside a brain” the rolling spheres of the band are set to the forefront as well with a headbanging track fusing Death ‘n’ Roll and Grindcore.

Regarding the aforementioned affinity to Punk, this is also what I again like a lot about Mental Mucus since these DIY aesthetics are again very present. Similar as on Hard to Digest!. the cover by moy-a once more carries out this very vibe brilliantly. The whale parts definitely convinced me on that cover eventually. The recording is, as already mentioned, done by the band alone again (mix and master by Magge at Vaultm Studios) yet striking once more for a DIY ethos and is absolutely forceful, strongly underlining the blasting sound in its entirety.

Keep Mental Phlegm on your scope if you are in need for your daily Grind blasts! However, it’s probably an even better recommendation to keep the musician(s) behind this project on your scope, since it seems as if band projects keep popping up like mushrooms in that environment and they’re all worth being mentioned.