Band:	Corrupted
Album:	Mushikeras
Style:	Doom metal, Sludge metal
Release date:	September 2023

01. Mushikeras

A smaller bite of music for the patient and sick.

Corrupted is a band that has a bit of a cult reputation. That seems to be the case in other circles as well but on Metal Storm specifically that impression stems mostly from the four reviews series by our old staffer Lucas, someone whose stint on Metal Storm sadly didn't coincide with mine but whose influence is still felt at times, this review especially being a case of that. Japan's Corrupted have been at it since 1995, delivering some of the slowest developing doom metal, with nuances ranging from sludge, drone, funeral, as far as dark ambient, post-rock, dark folk, and crust punk. They're mostly well known for their gargantuan slow albums like El Mundo Frío, consisting of only one towering 70 minute track, with other tracks over 30 minutes in other albums. But the Corrupted discography is larger than the full lengths, and there's plenty of space for shorter tracks as well.

Judging by just their full lengths one would expect Corrupted to have hibernated since 2011's Garten der Unbewusstheit, which isn't entirely incorrect, as the band has been certainly much less active since then. With such a low profile it's hard to really be in the know as to what the band is up to, but since then there have been two other EPs, in line with how the pace of releases has slowed down since 2005. 2015's Loss was a ten minute loud sludge record, and 2018's Felicific Algorithim was a twenty minute dark ambient record that was made specifically to be able to be played at different speeds. But none of them were really close to being a proper follow-up to their main line of releases. Well, Mushikeras is much closer to being that, even if it doesn't completely tick all the boxes, at least the runtime and the sound are more in line with what would qualify it as Corrupted being properly back in business.

Although it's an EP, the single-track release runs for 27 minutes, just short of being able to be considered an LP by normal standards, less than ten minutes shorter than the band's shortest LP, 2004's Se Hace Por Los Suenos Asesinos. The sound is also pretty much in line with Corrupted's usual sound, containing both loud sludge riffs and very patient buildups. There have been some lineup changes in the long meantime, indicating that things might be brewing further, with bassist/vocalist Rie Lambdoll and guitarist Mike Kaz being new in the fold, and it's the former's presence that is most obviously felt in the creepy vocal performance, something that's transmitted both in the clean whispers in the patient sections and the howling harsh vocals in the more distorted sections. There's a slight dark jazz tinge to how the dark ambiance feels like, and a lot of this record feels like a very drawn out build up, something that's more developed than the actual release. This does lead to the album's ending feeling a bit underdeveloped comparatively, somehow feeling like the album just unceremoniously ends rather than properly taking things to a rewarding close. Almost like this is just one track of an album and there's supposed to be more after it.

With Corrupted's low profile, I wouldn't be surprised if it actually comes to light that this is a track from a future album (which would make reviewing that future album a bit awkward), but anyway it does make me very hopeful in the prospect of a new album from them. Mushikeras works well enough on its own, but the new vocal approach especially makes me very eager to hear it in an even longer form release.