This is the latest EP from UK hardcore/sludge metallers Mastiff.
A new Mastiff release is always something to pay attention to. Since 2019’s Plague I’ve thoroughly enjoyed betting beaten around the head by their brutal heaviness. On 2021’s Leave Me the Ashes of the Earth and last year’s Deprecipice they only seemed to get heavier and nastier. Which brings us to For All the Dead Dreams, which delivers seventeen minutes of punishment for us to soak up.
Soliloquy opens the EP, and is harsh and brutal, in a really uncaring way. It feels mechanised, in the sense of a relentless, unstoppable force that just keeps on beating you down without mercy or feeling. I bet it crushes live.
Rotting Blossoms introduces fractured, twisted melody into the mix. It’s dark and heavy, peeling out the groove with malevolent appeal. It’s like a cross between Hatebreed and All Pigs Must Die. Yep, top stuff right here.
Next is Decimated Graves, a song that is one of Mastiff’s most crushing. The guitars sound like they’re made out of rocks, and the vocals are almost growls. The song has an air of old-school death metal about it, as filtered through something that’s strangely akin to a mix of deathcore and Crowbar. It might sound strange, but it works. The ending is a massive doomsludge workout too, which is great to hear.
A Story Behind Every Light explodes into life with a rolling assault that combines deathly sludge and dissonant darkness. It’s a serpentine beast that’s simultaneously lithe and lethal on the one hand, and belligerent and remorseless on the other. Bloody Hell is it heavy too. And that ending riff…oh my.
The EP closes with the shortest cut, Corporeal. It’s a song that combines destructive speed with cutthroat riffs and merciless groove remarkably well.
Once again, Mastiff deliver the goods and then stomp them flat. For All the Dead Dreams is another satisfying and enjoyable slab of nastiness from Mastiff. Heavy up your day with this brutal treat.
Wonderbox Metal 