Mower – Make It A Double

I don’t think I’ve ever been more intimidated by an album cover than I have been with that on Mower’s third release, Make It A Double.  At first glance the album cover features the band partying in the midst of a skanky club.  But upon closer inspection you realize that they’re not there to have a good time – no, they’re there to make their presence known.  And what a presence; these are the type of guys who crunch on rusty nails for breakfast and crush beer cans against their foreheads for fun.  Complete with cold, emotionless, and to put it politely, “we-won’t-take-your-crap” attitudes, I wouldn’t be surprised if theses guys could break bones just by making eye contact.

Not surprisingly, Make It A Double starting track, “The Party,” feels every bit as intimidating as the cover.  Mower plays a combination of aggressive hard-rock guided by metal structures.  Vocalist Brian Sheerin sounds like one of the meanest, toughest guys around.  His style is slow and controlled, with every syllable pronounced in a similar but expressive tone – almost like a teacher raising their voice within a decibel of yelling, but somehow still remaining at talking level.  Thankfully though, on tracks like “The Start,” co-vocalist Dominic Moscatello’s Ozzy Osborn-like howl and loose expressivity ensures that you don’t always feel like you’re about to have your head bashed into the wall.  The two play off each other remarkably well, helping to blur the boundaries between technical metal and hard rock.  There are some notable guest appearances – like Anthrax’s Rob Caggiano and Snot’s Mikey Doling – but for better or worse they don’t really change anything too radically.

Now if Make It A Double simply continued in this fashion I would have ended this review with a paragraph about specific songs and a few comparisons to bands like Korn.  But as it turns out, Mower has a few tricks up its sleeve that make the final six tracks quite a unique experience.  The final few tracks are actually recreations of older Mower tunes performed in a slick jazz/lounge style.  For these tracks the band actually renamed themselves “Slower,” which is quite appropriate considering the comparatively subdued style.  On paper it might evoke a “huh?” but in practice the result is really quite fun.  Tracks like “Road Rage” and “Pieces” have a playful but low-key punk looseness to them, making you want to break out the top-hat and celebratory cigar.  It’s not quite as “twisted” as the bio sheet promotes, but it does have a sort of eerie aura – the type that makes you glimpse over your shoulder while walking up a creaky staircase.

Lyrically the band is what you’d expect: a bunch of macho tough guys talking about being macho tough guys.  References to drugs, guns and alcohol run rampant, but ultimately match the rock hard, frenzied mosh-pit atmosphere.  There’s nothing particularly deep here, so listeners just have to take it for what it is, which doesn’t seem like asking too much considering the album’s solid musical foundation.

As someone who doesn’t normally listen to hard rock, I’m surprised how much I found myself getting into Make It A Double.  By the time I started tiring of straight up hard rock and metal, it was time to switch over to something a little less heavy, and indulge in a some well paced lounge-metal.  Mower’s latest release is without a doubt a great find – although I imagine not exactly what fans were expecting.  It’s refreshing finding a rock band so committed to trying new things.  Although I can’t claim familiarity with Mower’s past, I can say that Make It A Double is an experiment gone right, and I can’t wait to see where bothMower, and their alter ego, head next.