Morrigan & Overzealous - Mechanisms of Catharsis

 Released: June 27 

Consisting of a single long form track, Mechanisms of Catharsis is a veritable orgasm of noise rock that takes full advantage of its free form format to give us all manner of harsh sonic weirdness wrapped around some tight drums. So, I don’t think it was originally meant to be a noise rock set, but that’s definitely what it feels like to me. There’s some straight up guitar riffs, notably somewhere in the middle, but it’s most just distorted noises. However, the way the drums fire off in soloing fashion really takes the harsh noise aesthetic provided by Morrigan create something that kind of reminds me of the more obscure noise rock from the early to mid-90s like the lesser known pieces from the Butthole Surfers. 

The track is incredibly dynamic and Morrigan manages to squeeze out all kind of sounds including squeals, squalls, and amplified static. The interplay between all of this atonal aural hazard and the drums is what’s is really the best here. Overzealous is really adept at picking up whatever Morrigan is putting down. The drums start out very prominent at the outset, banging out solid rhythms with a proper dose of swing to them. About midway through this sonic adventure, it feels like things hit a slower spot, giving the impression of something like a breakdown. This is where those straight guitar riffs come in and solidify this as a rock or metal track for just a short about of time. Eventually all of this intensity subsides and it becomes something like a dark ambient track with still more than enough distortion. It’s a wild nearly half-hour of free form weirdness that you should just throw yourself straight into.