Metal Underground.com

For those fortunate enough to have survived Mumakil's previous bombardment, 2006's "Customized Warfare," remain on guard--a second wave looms overhead. With their Relapse Records debut, "Behold the Failure," Mumakil somehow manage to ramp up the intensity with 27 tumultuous cuts. The band's stock in trade is unrelenting death-grind. It’s not for the weak of heart, or even the average metal fan.

Album opener "Brothers in Slavery" pulls no punches. There are no tension building atmospherics or spoken word samples, but rather a continuous assault of blade-sharp, concrete-heavy riffing and bulleting blasts. Vocalist Thomas (of Stumpfucking fame) sounds like an escaped mental patient unleashing years of pent up derangement on his keepers. Often his guttural roars apex with raspy shrieks. Drummer Seb comes across like a gatling gun behind the kit, every drumhead and cymbal is under attack at all times. While each song is dense and complex, the result is never clinical or flashy. Though bands like Beneath the Massacre and Origin can match this speed and intensity, the former lacks personality and the latter tends toward elaborate technicality. Mumakil usually connect, whether it’s with the relative groove of “Worms of Chaos,” the hairpin turns of “I-Bomb” or the outlandish fury of the oddly titled “Apathy.”

“Behold the Failure” succeeds on virtually every level. Guitarist Jerome (Knut) and bassist Jeremy (Nostromo) cut a path of destruction with every riff. Their performances call to mind uzis and chainsaws roaring through a tunnel shared by a speeding train. The band doesn’t let up—ever. Only between tracks does Mumakil allow themselves or the listener a breather. Either by design or merely achieving the limit of what is humanly possible, few songs ever reach the two minute mark. Only the keenest of ears and minds will manage to find distinction from one track to the next—a prospect that will prove challenging to the uninitiated but rewarding to the patient.