By Georgia Smith
Stuttgart-based four-piece MAVIS test the limits of modern metalcore with their debut album ‘Grief Is No Ally’, a grasping, questioning catharsis, this newest offering from MAVIS is an unflinchingly heavy, unrelenting dive into the blistering landscape of metalcore. With national tours planned, and the pre-Covid success of their riotous live performances preceding them, MAVIS have set the stage for a confident swipe for their place in the scene.
Immediately confident, brash and unapologetic, ‘Insight’ opens out to rolling melodies and bottomless drops. Vocalist Phil Donay lays bare the unabashed catharsis of seeking reason and connection through the harsh vocals, and simultaneously brings them closer with the layering of the clean ones. The result is a sweeping atmospheric entrance to the album, combining deep synth sounds with pensive semi-silent bridges that only mean the subsequent breakdowns seem to fall from staggering heights. Already there is a promise of never pausing, never settling; that the twists of the tracks always return to the central sounds of ripping metalcore.
This symbiotic sound; the layered techniques and breakneck twists in noise and quiet seep into subsequent tracks – ‘Calypso’ and ‘Tortured Land’ are thick-riffed, tightly woven, building an impenetrable base for the standout vocals to sit atop. The guitars seem to pull the tracks along with the latent power they infuse through MAVIS’ sound, taking a powerful, authoritative presence and leading the rest of the constructions into the thrumming depths of heaviness. The breakdowns towards the end of ‘Calypso’ and ‘Hollow Eyes’ are marauding, filthy descents that it is all too easy to envision pits to; swirling masses of sound, blooming into an awe-inspiring cathartic expanse of grinding, echoing metal.
These breakdowns- possibly the strongest element of MAVIS’ newest release, so deep and dark do they plunge- arise from an interesting blend of electronic, synthy elements, layered vocals, and swaying melodic sequences that remain catchy even in their heaviest iterations. MAVIS have structured their tracks so that collapse into these breakdowns seems inevitable; the increasingly desperate calls for answers and crushing realization of the shortcomings of human nature bloom into a primal release. ‘ISOTO’ (track 9) is moodier in its collapse, blooming into a cacophony as the album begins to find the release it seeks, with its breaks sounding threatening, somewhat otherworldly, employing alarm-esque guitar sounds that elevate MAVIS’ masterful sense of urgency. Elements on tracks such as ‘Hollow Eyes’ – electronic rhythms and twists in technique – and ‘Reflections’ – longer semi-silent elements and foregrounded vocals, as well as the deviation in style to the more pop-elements used in ‘Limerent’ – mean that MAVIS are well aware of their ability to twist metalcore into any direction they wish to delve into.
‘Furry Tongue’ and ‘Limerent’ employ lighter melodies and cleaner vocals, as well as the forefronting of female vocals to push out the edges of the landscape that ‘Grief Is No Ally’ maps out whilst still ensuring that the ceaseless, almost yearning tone of the album shines through every minute of sound. The guitars become almost playful, dancing and catchy, brief reprieves from the grinding nature of the album’s earlier tracks. It is a display of a masterful potential range, achieved effortlessly, and again is easy to imagine the lighter tracks translating to a rousing, rowdy live performance just as easily as their heaviest parts.
The clean vocals and melodic guitars are, however, short lived on other tracks, and whilst this ensures a ceaseless unpredictability, an inability to become complacent, it’s possible that the earlier album and its density of heaviness would be elevated by these more melodic sequences. The structure of the album leaves a listener wanting more, wishing to connect with the yearning, impassioned vocals, and MAVIS clearly have the skill and range to make this possible on multiple levels with various focuses of sound.
The parting tracks, ‘Closer to The Sun’ and ‘Marcesence’, reinforce the confidence and demand for attention that MAVIS have brewed throughout this roaring new release. ‘Closer to The Sun’ becomes almost ethereal in its sound, searching and questioning, whilst ‘Marcesence’ is an almost frenzied farewell, sounding tightly scattered, bouncing away and returning. Dramatic layers of sound and the striking juxtapositions of melancholic foregrounded guitars atop echoing harsh vocals ensure that the parting impression of the album is one of urgency, connection, a triumphant assurance of the breadth of their ability to melt their own edges into modern metalcore. ‘Marcesence’, then, meaning to wither but remain, becomes almost its inverse; since ‘Death is No Ally’ is so densely confident, so heavily technically successful, that the concept of withering could not be further from this album’s blooming, promising outcome.
- ‘Grief Is No Ally‘ is released on Friday (15 December).
- All content © Über Rock. Not to be reproduced in part or in whole without the express written permission of Über Rock.