The Mongoloids: Time Trials / Review

If you've never heard or seen The Mongoloids, you could easily be mistaken into thinking you are dealing with a snotty punkrock band due to their bandname. In reality though, these Jersey Shore hardcore enthusiasts are pretty far removed from that side of the hardcore/punk spectrum. The Mongoloids deal in unrelenting, mid to fast paced NYHC influenced songs with a lot of groove, a LOT of solos and a lot of balls.

On every US tour that I've done with Rise And Fall throughout the last couple of years we've ended up playing at least one show with The Mongoloids and every single time this band had improved spectacularly compared to the previous tour. So after a couple of EP's they're here with the real deal, an album that will hopefully convince a lot sceptics of what The Mongoloids are capable of. While the band members are all still fairly young, I'd guess their average age would have to be 20 or so, I think they have reached some kind of maturity (as lame as that word sounds) throughout those years and have learned to write songs that hit hard and work well. Plus, as a live band, The Mongoloids are a spectacle to behold these days, I saw them play insane sets at both Sound & Fury and This Is Hardcore.

"Time Trials" opens with a solid intro that goes straight into the title track, a pretty straight forward song that is perfect as an opening track. "I can only say these time trials won't define me" - that's a good line. What is clear from the get go is the fact that the vocals will decide on how you feel about this band and this album. It's a love it or hate it type of deal, as Greg has a deep, gravely voice that strongly reminds of Sheer Terror's Paul Bearer. And just like Paul Bearer he frequently goes for some "real" (melodic) singing as well, which in my opinion works well and gives this band that extra edge over a lot of bands that operate in a similar style. Unlike Sheer Terror's savage Celtic Frost styled riffs, The Mongoloids have a groovier, less primitive sound that is definitely very NYHC influenced... Not in the way that makes it easy to pinpoint exactly where they got their ideas though, but I feel like they must have listened to a lot of early Biohazard, some Life Of Agony (the groove and hints of melody) and Killing Time.













The song "Troubled Waters" is probably my favourite, I don't know how one can not have "I wanna be, I wanna be, I waaaaaanna beeeee... Free from the, free from the paaaiiiiiiin" stuck in one's head after listening to it. I know I've been caught singing that shit at the most random times and places. After listening a whole bunch of times I actually realized the strongest part of the album is the last 4 songs on Side A. The aforementioned "Troubled Waters", followed by the short but hard as fuck "Fading Away", in turn followed by "Alive And Well" (I don't know what band that dude Cleary is in that does does guest vocals, but his part sounds awesome)... These 3 are followed by another standout track called "The Mongo Stomp". It stands out mainly due to the plain ignorant middle part of the song that features guest vocals by Joe None (Shattered Realm, Second To None)... Makes perfect sense when you hear it. The album's solid all the way through though, I didn't find any songs to be stinkers, and it's too short to get boring anyway.

The solid songwriting, the variety in the vocals and the abundance of guest vocals definitely help to keep you interested throughout the whole record. I guess I can see why people would sometimes associate this band with mindless fun or consider them a party type of band... Sure, their shirt designs can get pretty wild and colorful and weird but with "Time Trials" being as good as it is I hope people will associate them with good hardcore first rather than any of that other stuff. I was also glad to discover their lyrics make a lot of sense, I didn't know what to expect from them really but they're cool. Love the cover artwork as well, some of my favourite Spoiler art along with Justice's 7" and s/t album and that Victim LP.

The vinyl version was released by everyone's favourite bearded hardcore elf Dave Sausage on Six Feet Under Records, while the CD was a joint venture by Collapse and Riptide.

www.myspace.com/mongoloidsnj
www.sixfeetunderrecords.com
www.collapserecords.com
www.myspace.com/riptiderex