CD Review: Bunglr – “The Nature of Being New” (Innerstrength Records)

As Samuel L. Jackson famously said in Jurassic Park, ‘hold onto your butts.’ And you best strap in and hold on tight as you embark on Bunglr’s latest, The Nature of Being New, as nothing short of sheer unhinged lunacy awaits. How Bunglr frontman Greg Kolb still has functioning vocal chords after recording The Nature of Being New is a mystery because his throat-shredding delivery is madness personified (“Finders Keepers, Takers Leavers” is a haze of distorted guitars, frenzied screams and loud cymbal crashes, strenuous vocal refrains reign supreme on the rifftastic “Double Gare,” “Rotting Fruit (Is for the Birds)” is the definition of chaos, the guitar bridge midway through “Closest Confident” is perfection). The Nature of Being New is so maniacal in fact that when the band lightens things up on “Dead Breath,” it’s incredibly jarring. But don’t worry because you’re quickly returned to your regularly scheduled program on the following “Smooth Hysteria.” Also, the penultimate “Opia” is a thick cut of doom-and-gloom and (spoiler alert) The Nature of Being New ends with someone enjoying a bag of chips during “Feed Him Gravel.” Yes, this record is really that metal. At the end of The Nature of Being New’s 32 minutes, your head is going to ache, your ears are going to throb and your asshole is going to bleed, and not necessarily in that order.

Grade: A-

Go Download: “Rotting Fruit (Is for the Birds)”