ALBUM REVIEW – Mucus – Hulk Spunk

Long awaited album..? Continents formed, planets collided, stars died while we anticipated an album from Bangor’s Mucus. They were formed in the early 90s, featuring that guitar wizard Duncan Black (he ((now formerly)) of Rabo De Toro), and assorted musical refugees got together to play thrash speed booze metal. Gaining iconic status for tunes like Shitfist, their name became one of legend once they hung up their guitars in 1995 and took up the pastime of murder instead.

They reunited in 2010 to play a one-off gig, and sporadic shows continued… The title alone ‘Hulk Spunk’ is one that deserves to be in lights… The content deserves it’s own blue plaque on the streets of Bangor. Beautifully recorded and brilliantly executed, this mainly instrumental masterpiece is a riff-driven onslaught of head-smashing mania. I say ‘mainly instrumental’ but Jxhnno of Anglesey smashers Entity does tear his throat out on four of the tracks.

Reading this, you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s simply a barrage of noise… No… (well yes) ‘Hulk Spunk’ is full of dynamics and diversity… the rock and roll of The Spirit, the grind of Hacked Into Pieces, the cover of Misery Loo, the punch of Schizo, the legend of Shitfist, the speed of Song 8 that seams into Stenching Crusts and its fret bursting glory and the spleen splitting rotted Wrecked.
Several wannabe bands in the area try and fail in this genre… Mucus show them how it’s done…

Duncan says, ‘The drums were recorded in a studio in Caernarfon. Everything else was recorded in the house I used to live in at Llandegfan. We all popped in one by one to record the guitar, bass and vocals.’

My only gripe is that ‘Hulk Spunk’ only came out digitally (I hate that word)… Makes me want to invest in a lathe machine to expand my own selfish ‘must have’ vinyl collection.

“STENCHING….. CRUUUUSTS…”