Album Review: Mainbrain - Jawbreaker
Reviewed by Daniel Phipps
Hailing from the port city of Málaga in the Costa del Sol, Mainbrain has been active since forming back in 2009. The band who have been an independent DIY act over this span play a classic sounding style of brutal death metal, verging away from the overload of slams and gravity blasts which can be found throughout the scene nowadays, focusing on dominating heavy riffs and monster grooves. The band still use slamming riffs however they are placed at the right points instead of being the focus of the bands sound.
Spending zero time with any form of introduction “Jawbreaker” the title track of Mainbrain’s first release since the 2013 E.P. Feeding The Beasts, brings a savage dose of punishing death metal, the only thing more intense is the bands annihilating dose of brutality which finishes the song and leads into the releases second track.
Through each song Mainbrain offers a simplistic and effective display of death metal. The riffs and rhythm is made of sheer brute force, topped with booming vocals with a pronounced yet still guttural flow to them. Tracks like Holmes Castle are packed with murderous grooves reminiscent of early Cannibal Corpse material and all throughout Jawbreaker you hear influences from the earlier years of brutal death metal. Although finesse is not Mainbrain’s signature Jawbreaker is still an incredibly tight sounding release with an honest production with each individual element being audible to the listener.
Jawbreaker as its name suggests will come straight ahead and attack. Its brute force approach will not see the band gain fans based on technique, it is just a collection of 6 powerful juggernaut tracks full of meaty riffs and heavy groove. It’s tails of the macabre will surely leave you satisfied by the time it’s complete.
