Melbourne garage rockers MEAT have dropped a prime cut in the form of their debut EP ‘An Acquired Taste’. MEAT are well-known around Melbourne gig-holes for an intense live show, and their six-track EP does well to capture their frantic sound.
The thing hits you like a ton of bricks as it opens up with ‘Anxiety’, wild guitars and a driving beat rock you around in the chorus while the vocals, sunken back in the mix, paint paranoid pictures before they open up in the chorus, screeching like a caged animal as they attempt to break through the rest of the noise.
‘Surgery’ follows in much the same vein, with good attention to dynamics in the way the chorus shifts your attention to the vocals around the gaps in the big guitars. You also get a nice little soundbite of Danny Devito at the end reminding us that what we’re consuming is “Human Meat”.
After that is ‘Who You Are’, the lead single off the E.P, which shows off their mad guitar work and makes you wish that speed limits on highways weren’t a thing.
‘EFT’ rounds out the release, it sees the group slow down half a BPM before they end with one last wild wall of manic sound. Then they whisper in your ear about meat juice. Very nice.
‘An Acquired Taste’ is a super promising first release, and I’m also happy to finally look them up online and not only get recommendations to nearby butchers.
4/5
Pissfart Records
Reviewed by Liam Mcnally
