Modern Monsters
Malice
(Waiting For Peri Records)

Brody Bass’s low bass growl thumps under Josh Weaver’s vocal before the rest of Modern Monsters crash in on “March 3^rd, ’91,”, the first of five on the band’s new EP Malice. Heavy as hell, this one has a great rap, cool crunchy guitars from Rich Wells and Wyatt Lennon, and Keenan Tuohy on full-tilt drumming.

Wells and Lennon provide the spikey opening to “Prism,” holding back Tuohy slightly before things explode into a fully driven 3:30 plus minutes. I like this one especially how the band give a good amount of space in the verses while keeping things heavy and tight. The chorus has got a great descending melody hook as well. Very good songwriting here from these monsters.

The guys get positively poppy on “Road to Nowhere,”, again speaking to this band’s ability to find, mine and execute their heavy rockin’ with a good ear on melody. The middle drop out, with bass leading the way and some wild guitar scratching effects makes for a great bridge before the over-the-top guitar lead.

Guitar feedback noise opens “White Rabbit,” a big guitar slicing revisit of the classic Jefferson Airplane hit. This is a hoot, with the guitars really leading the charge with some high-flying stuff, drums and bass locking in on the infamous march and Weaver giving it his best. The leads at the end are killer.

Last tune “Greed Machine,” is a heavy poppy number, another great little gem with a tight melody, good interplay between verse and chorus. I’d say this Malice is very sweet indeed.