Crucial Blast Releases

GENGHIS TRON Dead Mountain Mouth CD
CBR53
$11.98

track listing
1. The Folding Road
2.Chapels
3. From the Aisle
4. Dead Mountain Mouth
5. White Walls
6. Badlands
7. Greek Beds
8. Asleep on the Forest Floor
9. Warm Woods
10. Lake of Virgins

Dead Mountain Mouth is the wickedly anticipated full length album from GENGHIS TRON, and the follow-up to their imaginative debut EP, Cloak Of Love. Recorded at Godcity Studios with Kurt Ballou (Converge), Dead Mountain Mouth moves beyond the rapid-fire electro/grind genre-splicing of Cloak Of Love, and forms something more fluid and cohesive, an arcane union of digital dreams and brutal heaviness, where speedcore eruptions blossom from clouds of maximum beat-driven electronic bliss, and futuristic metal riffage seethes from your speakers. These ten gloriously-dense and triumphantly catchy jams soar through valleys of immense crush and alien vistas of 8-bit wizardry unlike anything you've heard before...

Review from INDIEWORKSHOP:
It's been a while since an album has genuinely kicked my ass. And I don't mean that as some sort of silly euphemism. I don't mean that I was in awe of its glorious melodies, or that there were songs that took my breath away. I'm not talking about some fairytale esc moment where the album reveled its glory to me and I bathed in the white glow of its magnificence. No. I'm talking about being physically accosted, beaten and bruised. I'm talking about having my head caved in and my insides strewn about my living room. The short version of this review would be; Dead Mountain Mouth is a brutal album. Hot on the heels of their well received Cloak of Love EP (released last year), this trio of Poughkeepsie boys are back with a Kurt Ballou produced explosion of talent and creativity. It's becoming increasingly rare for a metal band to make you audibly say "wow" when you listen to them. It's also becoming frighteningly rare for a metal band to create something unique, something new and fresh. Almost everything within both the metal scene and hardcore can be directly pinned on some band from five years previous. Genghis Tron step out from the typical modes and blow the doors off of what you'd expect from a metal band in this day in age. Three guys, some guitars, keyboards, and a computer. That's all they really need. Genres be damned, as they crank out some blistering Naked City-esc face melting and follow it up with some cascading Isis doom-fest. It's chaotic, off balance, and perfectly crafted. Each time I listen to Dead Mountain Mouth I have a new favorite track. First few times it was the opening riff fest of "The Folding Road". Then the shred-tastic title track took the top spot, then the creepy, industrial sounds of "White Walls". I'm figuring at some point that each track will have a share of the top spot in my mind. I've always loved metal, I've always loved intense and chaotic music. But to be honest, the last few years haven't really been that good to me. I've been bored with a lot of what I've heard; feeling like most of it was just re-hashed riffs from albums I've been enjoying for years. There were a few glimmers of hope (I mean, everyone loves Jesu), but for the most part I've been under whelmed with what metal has had to offer for the last five or so years. I mean, when kids think what they are buy from Hot Topic is metal… well, we know we have a problem. But Genghis Tron has made a spectacular full length, giving me hope that the creative and forward thinking metal I grew up on isn't dead. I said it before, and I'm about to say it again; Dead Mountain Mouth is a brutal album.

Review from LUNAR HYPNOSIS Webzine, written by Don Anderson of Agalloch:
"Following their brief Cloak of Love EP released last year, Genghis Tron return with their anticipated full-length Dead Mountain Mouth. Having been hooked on the trio since their EP and having reviewed it here [hyperlink], I was interested in seeing what the band would do on a sustained project. Cloak of Love was lauded as another fine genre-hopping recording, but Ive always felt there was something different about Genghis Tron. They werent just another Naked City or Secret Chiefs 3. I never once felt the genres they crossed were for a gimmick or to display technical prowess. They truly seemed to have constructed their own genre all together. The listener will find a more focused and heavier Genghis Tron on Dead Mountain Mouth. The group has further perfected their grindtronica sound. The drum programming is erratic, eclectic, and creative. Moving between the electronica stylings of Aphex Twin (the introduction to Warm Woods would not be out of place on the Richard D. James album) and the blast beats of early Napalm Death, the brilliant programming never once seems out of touch with the guitar work. It is the precise and delicate dialectic between the programming and the guitars that pushes Genghis Tron into Cynic-Jazz-Death-like territory. Now, I have made sure I am not the only one to hear a Cynic influence in the groups music (just listen to the intervallic relationships in the melody a minute into the title track) as Ive had other people confirm this. It is at these moments that Genghis Tron seem so situated within the Florida Jazz-Death scene and it is at such moments where they are at their most melodic and catchy. There is a definite heaviness to this album that was absent from Cloak of Love. The group find themselves at their most crushing and emotional around the two minute mark of White Walls. During this passage the guitars are monolithic with minor chords in the style of something off of Isis Oceanic record. Nonetheless, it isnt much longer into the track when the music breaks down into sparse synthesizers and glitch like programming over a driving drum loop. Genghis Tron are one of the most interesting groups currently working. Dead Mountain Mouth has not only developed but has exploded the musical vocabulary the trio uncovered on their EP. Some groups contribute to the language of a particular genre of music while others write their own language and in turn become true iconoclasts. Genghis Tron are of the latter. The trio of Mookie, Michael, and Hamilton are a group to watch because they are making music no one has heard yet."

Review from DECIBEL Magazine:
"HORSE the band reclaimed video game soundtracks for the people on last year's The Mechanical Hand, the final word on danceable hardcore for everyone who'd rather rock Contra cheat codes from outside the pie. On Dead Mountain Mouth, Genghis Tron works the opposite side of that equation, except this Poughkeepsie trio's first full-length kicks Genesis out of bed and invites Coil and Foetus for a romp under the sheets. the result gallops along the same trail, but without the effete mannerisms that cast a shadow of doubt across the intentions of HORSE the Band. As with last year's Cloak of Love EP, Dead Mountain Mouth suggests the halfway point between grind and The Grind: ten tracks of agitated, face-melting noise overstuffed with blastbeats and hooks and ponderous bridges.
Genghis Tron has the Dillinger exercise plan to thank for its trim physique, though the hoarse vocals are straight-up Converge circa Jane Doe and Kurt Ballou's production assistance bumps up the official "Six Degrees of Jake Bannon" score. But the parts of Dead Mountain Mouth aligned with the recognizable signposts of hardcore and tech-metal are ultimately less interesting than the left-field creative bursts here. Dig the furious technical workout on the title track--pretty slick drumming for a trio that lets a laptop take care of all the percussion. Then there's "Warm Woods", where the guitar drops out of the mix and the keyboardists venture into IDM territory for what could be an outtake from Herbert's Bodily Functions. Guitarist Hamilton Jordan provides an instrumental tether with a few thundering riffs, but Genghis Tron generally don't give a collective fuck about genre alignment. You shouldn't, either."

Review from SUBBA CULTCHA:
The Screamo scene is already stagnating, it’s a sad but true fact boys and girls. The once frenetic scene full of hope and promise has been flooded with bands stealing idea’s from elsewhere and homogenising a once futile scene with identikit band after identikit band… It seems odd that more bands haven’t thought about adding an electro edge to their music, and with the right exposure expect the whole scene to turn suit, ‘cos Genghis Tron are THAT good… No make that great, no make that fucking Phenomenal. With the brutal rage of Converge (Kurt Ballou produces, surprise surprise!) and electro-head-fuck-ed-ness of Kid606 and Aphex Twin melded together so perfectly, it’s hard not to explode into typical journo hyperbole, but I really do trust that the music will do the talking. I could spend all day going through every little nuance of what makes this album so amazing, but that’s valuable listening time of yours I’m potentially wasting. Go Buy It Now!!!

Review from RECORD RELAPSE:
Genghis Tron’s first full-length, Dead Mountain Mouth, opens with “The Folding Road,” a smartly titled track that lays the groundwork for the strange aural journey that’s about to take place in your speakers. The track warms up with a strange electronic wiggle that feels like it was taken from the claustrophobic soundtrack to the movie Pi. It’s only a matter of seconds before the band’s full fury kicks in with a roar of electronic and hardcore grind. The guitars twitch, sputter, and squeal in a way that makes you think of Dillinger Escape Plan or Ed Gein, with vocals reminiscent of old Locust shrieks from their GSL-era releases. Over the course of the album’s half-hour, Genghis Tron cover a lot of sonic ground. They weave in and out of low-end, industrial gutters that would make Skinny Puppy proud and go right into a breakneck climb of soaring guitar velocities, falling into a slow, easy-going electronic cool-down that may have been inspired by Castlevania. What’s most impressive to me is how effortlessly this album flows. Granted, you have to be of a certain mindset to like this album in the first place (if you find Slayer too abrasive, don’t try this out), but aggressive-music fans should take note of the ease that Genghis Tron displays in their tempo and style changes. And what’s impressive isn’t that they can physically play these songs, but that the songs “work,” and actually sound good despite these repeated and quick crossovers of style. Dead Mountain Mouth is an interesting and innovative album and is sure to please anyone with a taste for math-driven grind (read: abrupt time signature changes, brutal drum onslaughts that drop to minimalist keyboard sequences, lots of guitar noodling)....

Review from ANTIMUSIC.com Webzine:
A short time ago the ANTIMusic.com writers stumbled rather blindly onto an obscure trio from Poughkeepsie, New York, known as Genghis Tron. The world as we know it has never been the same. Such is the effect Genghis Tron has on listeners. Perhaps their name is more fitting than they realize; like a combination of computer age innovation and old-fashioned slaying ala the Great Khan himself, I firmly believe these guys could alter a large chunk of musical history forever. Drawing on comparisons and influences are but nigh impossible; in the roughly 31 and a half minutes that Dead Mountain Mouth runs, you'll be bombarded by frenzied grind, neon-bright spazzcore, crushing sludge doom, jarring industrial, and even traces of retro-pop/folk hymns. Oh, and did I mention such combinations generally attack you in the span of one-to-three minutes all in one song? If Dillinger Escape Plan invented math metal and forever changed the underground that way, Genghis Tron may very well have added rocket science metal to the world. The results is an album so immensely odd yet familiar, fresh yet traditional, you won't know what to do with yourself. The end result is the feeling that everything and everyone around you is being painfully converted to binary code over a high-speed DSL cable. "The Folding Road" is instantly recognizable to people fortunate enough to have heard the band's sole prior recording, the Cloak of Love EP. It slowly builds into a mud-pot of bubbling synths before erupting in an explosion of grind so manic, technical, and blasting you'll scarce believe it. Little tinges of moog soundscapes wrestle with all of this, and the song leaves you severely out of element. "Chapels" is short-but-sweet spazz-core ditty writhing with such intensity it feels six times longer than what it really is (just short of two minutes). I'm sure I wouldn't have been so confused had it not been for the ambient techno breakdown mid-song. "From the Aisle" is the first song to truly tap into the Tron's massive potential; it starts off with rambling, clean chords that vaguely recalls 1960's pop. I could even see the Beatles doing this if they were a tad angrier and darker on some songs! As if this isn't abnormal enough on its own, the song slowly builds into pounding, primal doom so ferocious you'd think those pop portions a second before had been utterly enviscerated by raging dinosaurs. The title track, "Dead Mountain Mouth," sways with drunken grind fury and reckless abandon as synths awkwardly keep the peace. The swelling instrumental orchestra leads into the equally slick "White Walls," in which cavernous beats are constructed and destroyed by technical hyper-grind of mind-blowing levels. It sounds like some sick noise contest between Fantomas, Psyopus, and Nine Inch Nails all at once. The pensive "Badlands" is a relaxing instrumental beat interlude that slows the pace a bit, or at least until the band flexes its muscle with some random chords. It is perfectly placed, as the personal favorite of mine, "Greek Beds," stutters and starts with spastic grind, full-on riffs, and soft swells that erupt into violently dying bursts of EBM. "Asleep on the Forest Floor" moseys in on patient industrial which soon turns into ominous factory beats, only to be entirely murdered by full-on metal bombast. This is in turn crushed under the hooves of massive, plodding doom riffs worthy of bands like Indian or YOB. The amazing "Warm Woods" is organic, serene strolls through pastures of ambient mugged and killed by bursts of technical metal. Closing track "Lake of Virgins" shifts tones, hues, and aesthetics so often it is nearly impossible to give an accurate description of. Genghis Tron will be a force to be reckoned with come a little bit of time and publicity. Already, heads are turning in this act's general direction as people catch on the fact that something very original is going on here. I'd highly recommend this album, and my one complaint is that it could have been just a little longer. All-in-all, there is nothing else like this on Earth. Get it now!

REVIEW FROM SKYLINE PRESS:
When I was first introduced To Genghis Tron, It was described to me as "horse the band" on steroids and copious amounts of speed. While this comparison did make me check them out, it was not the reason I continued listening. Genghis Tron takes you on a journey up their mountain with 10 tracks of what some people would call a soundtrack to a psychedelic trip, because it is impossible to accurately define them as a band. Listening to this album was almost like playing an old super Mario game, each track is like a different level with its own complex traps that pull you in and pump adrenaline through your veins making you fight with everything you have to make it to the next level. The chaotic sounds of Cloak of Love have been tamed by the boys, and out has spiraled a deadly beast that has blurred the genre lines even further to a point where they have become visionaries paving a path for a new genre in music. The thing that separates Genghis Tron from any other band is that they have made a sound all their own, and while some bands may already be trying to emulate the sounds, they cannot come anywhere near the actual complexity that underlies these tracks. The two songs that stood out the most on this album were of course the title track "Dead Mountain Mouth" which has some sort of keyboard progression halfway through that blew me away. I don't even know the proper term for what that was so I'll just call it amazing. The other track was "Warm Woods" which really stood out due to the beautifully crafted ambient feeling that the song gives you, which is interspliced with a few seconds of grinding guitars that create their own beat amidst the eerie sounds before running a full out assault on your ear drums. Yet as quickly as the beast came from the woods to terrorize you, it descends back down and the catchy synths that Genghis Tron is known for emerge to make you nod your head and wonder if what you heard was all just your mind having flashbacks to the worst trip of your life. This bands imagination clearly shows no bounds and seeing the progression the band has undergone in such a short amount of time leaves me in a daze wondering just how far the band will come in the years ahead. Innovation is key in a land where anyone can pick up a guitar and start a band, and Genghis Tron are the gatekeepers.