This is the fourth album from UK mathcore band Frontierer.
Welcome to Frontierer’s wonderful world of angular chaos. Ultraviolet Parasite is eagerly awaited by many adherents of frenetic mathcore, and with good reason. Frontierer have long-established their capabilities within their chosen style, and this new collection of songs sees them continue their trend of releasing high quality material.
Ultraviolet Parasite is Frontierer’s most diverse and far-ranging record, while still adhering to the primary tumultuous template that the band work from. It’s an anarchic work of art. This new record smashes together 46 minutes of warped sounds into 14 tracks that will fry your brain. The songs generate their own momentum. Dynamic energy infuses the album. It’s wave upon wave of complex brutality and intricate aggression, as Frontierer do what they do best.
The songs hit hard and don’t outstay their welcome. There is no filler here, just abrasive heaviness and carefully shaped aggression. Frontierer’s songwriting is crooked and labyrinthine, yet rooted in grooves and rhythms that may be non-standard, but still make the listener want to move. The music is jagged and constantly changing shape. Electronics enhance, but don’t dominate; that privilege belongs to the ever-changing guitars, (although cuts like Emerging Claustrophobic bring these aspects of the music screaming into the foreground).
Don’t think that Ultraviolet Parasite is only harsh and nasty, and that’s all that it is, because it brings a lot more to the table than that. Frontierer unleash chaos for sure, but these new songs find the band embedding melody, atmosphere, and feeling deeper than ever into the mayhem. The album usually incorporates these aspects in non-explicit ways, although the entire record has a heightened sense of depth and character to it, and these parts of the music do rise to the surface in places. This culminates in the final song – Transforming Myself – which is the band’s most mood-rich offering, even boasting emotive clean singing. An outlier it may be, but it still fits perfectly into Frontierer’s ever-evolving style.
Ultraviolet Parasite offers an atypical listening experience that’s remarkably impactful. This is Frontierer firing on all cylinders and they absolutely tear up the place up with their high-octane assault. However, the best thing about this record, and Frontierer’s music in general, is how satisfying it is to listen to. Despite the music’s twisting ferocity that attacks with everything from serrated slashes to slab-like bludgeoning, ultimately, it’s just really damn enjoyable.
The relentless beating that Frontierer dish out is extremely moreish. This is a record that’s punishing, but wonderfully so. Sit back, press play, and let the chaos wash over you in waves of broken and reformed distortion.
Essential listening.
