Muta-scuM - Lying Idol

In December of 2020, I had the pleasure of being introduced to the noisey breakbeat and industrial project that is Muta-scuM. After an eight year hiatus, Muta-scuM returned to the industrial scene with their two-track release 'Bad Friday'. Not to keep their potential audience from waiting on further music, Muta-scuM was back in their studio working on their next release which so happens to be "Lying Idol". Though Muta-scuM's Bandcamp page notes it as a single release, the release comes with four tracks in total which makes it out to be more of an EP than a single...At least to me it does. Classifying the release properly tossed aside, let's discuss "Lying Idol". 



I am going to start with the second track on the EP, 'Another Restless Night', as this is what I think Muta-scuM needs to strive for in the future. This is the type of song that does not know how to sit in one place for too long and thus it is both engaging and enjoyable. It starts off with glitchy scratches of noise that are filled out by humps of bass and a backing synth. Breakbeats soon catch up to the filth laid out, but the track changes into a melancholic and bright piece around the one-minute and twenty-second mark. Only ten seconds after that, what sounds like a digital xylophone comes in before breaking out into an amalgamation of all things mutant and scummy. Throughout the rest of the track, all of these sounds mix and mingle to a great effect. 

Going to the start of the EP, however, lands us with the title track 'Lying Idol'. While it's a decent piece filled with vocal samples, I could not find many words to describe it other than that it's a noisey breakbeat piece. '3 People In 33 Years' is an okay track at best but I didn't find the overall gloomy sound to it to be all that interesting. The final track on the EP is a 'quick and bitchy edit' of the title track but I failed to hear a major difference between this and the original mix of 'Lying Idol' other than that it's a little over a minute shorter. 

I suppose at the end of the day, I was so impressed by what Muta-scuM was able to accomplish on 'Another Restless Night' that the rest of the work I came across on 'Lying Idol' paled in comparison. The other tracks are decent but are nowhere near as creative or provoking as 'Another Restless Night'. One each spin of "Lying Idol", I found myself in anticipation to hear this song over and over and over again. Some complaints that I found in Muta-scuM's previous release return; I do think that the production still needs to be upped. But, overall, this is another nice addition to Muta-scuM's discography. If anything, I hope you at least find the time to listen to 'Another Restless Night' at some point. Check it out. 

This review was commissioned through our Ko-fi page.
Mar 04 2021