Winning the award for not making life easy for anyone is….Mild from Lincoln! To start with, both the A57 and the A46 are a complete shit at the best of times. Secondly, they have a name and an album title which are unnecessarily difficult to search for and, finally, they are nowhere to be seen on any streaming services except Bandcamp (which could be a creative decision)….but even on Bandcamp, searching for ‘Mild’ is like looking up ‘Smith’ in the telephone directory (90s reference there, kids).
However, once you get your greasy mits around Mild’s debut release, you will be glad of the quest! This is just over half an hours worth of aggressive, caustic sludge where the noisy paces of UK bands such as Row of Ashes meets the trad appeal of, say, Iron Monkey. Sprinkle over a little sense of experimentation, and you have Mild who turn out not to be mild at all.
Opener ‘I.C.P.’ is, I can only assume, a reference to that bunch of circus performers who once upset Eminem and seem to get blacklisted quite a lot…but obviously might not be. Add on the punky ball-hammer-to-the-top-of-the-head that is ‘Reckless’, and the melodic and wonderfully titled ‘Dad Brown’, and then give yourself a clambering hernia by the time closer ‘Severed Head Syndrome’ has given up on you, and you realise that this EP is quite a statement.
Production is decent, if a little ‘live’ in feel…but I am astonished that these apparently mild mannered individuals chose to just drop this without anything so much as a nod. It is the least Boss-ish way of being a Boss.
Highly recommend.
Best Paired With: Sir Isaac Newton’s hairline, marking yourself with charcoal and a side of slime.
Reviewed by Jaff.
Boss by Mild is out now independently (if you can find it).
Leave a Reply