“The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny Demo” Review
For this week’s installment, I am very pleased to be joined by Fredonia student and friend of the site: Myles Marrero! Myles will actually be serving as the first guest writer for the website and with both of us already established fans of Mr. Bungle, there is no one I wanted more to join me in this review of the band’s monumental return!
Matt’s Take: With Mike Patton being possibly my favorite singer of all-time, as well as Mr. Bungle being one of my favorite bands, I had high hopes going into this “new” album. I say “new” because this album is technically the group’s fourth studio album, but it actually is an overhaul of an album that they recorded in 1986. However, I am happy to say that this effort was completely worth it! With these new versions being unrecognizable from the original recording, new life is breathed into these tracks. Also, Patton releasing a thrash metal album in 2020? Hell yeah! This album is just a testament to how weird this band has stayed, while ever-evolving, since their inception in 1985. My personal favorite album of theirs is their 1991 self-titled studio album, and the genres that are thrown into that hodgepodge include experimental rock, metal, jazz, funk, and ska. They then followed suit with the experimental rock aspects with their next two albums (“Disco Volante” and “California”). Hearing them go headfirst into the thrash metal genre, with some experimental twists in the case of “Hypocrites / Habla Español O Muere,” is an insane experience that I loved being a part of. A thought that kept running through my mind while listening to this was how it made me feel similarly to the soundtracks for 2016’s Doom and its 2020 sequel Doom Eternal. I loved those soundtracks so much I would often have to pause the game because I was more enthralled with the shredding guitars than my character shredding demons. And this album already has a huge advantage over those soundtracks: Mike Patton screaming his lungs out the whole time. Along with the release of “Ohms” by Deftones this summer, I can confidently and happily say that this album has helped to keep modern metal interesting. I for one am very happy about it, and I hope similar metalheads feel the same! However, I must now get to the negative part of my review. While I think this is a very competent album that is good at getting the blood flowing, the music of Mr. Bungle definitely works better when they stick to the formula that they have become known for. Mike Patton is a phenomenal singer, there is no doubt about that, but when he is demonstrating the same vocal style and range for a whole album, it is easy to lose sight of how great he really is. Most of the enjoyment I get out of their self-titled album is the extreme cacophony of sound that it beats the listeners ears with for the entire duration. This includes Patton’s voice. While soft and reassuring one second, he can sound like your worst nightmare the next second. It is an intensely funny, energetic, fierce, and ballsy album for this reason. For “The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny Demo” being a completely angry album, it’s odd that it can’t impart those same emotions. I feel as if this serves as the other side of a coin opposite “Ohms,” almost like a weird companion piece. If you want to get fired up, definitely check this out. But if you want more thought and feeling, definitely check out “Ohms.” I hope you all enjoy it nonetheless!
Three Standout Tracks: “Anarchy Up Your Anus,” “Hypocrites / Habla Español O Muere,” and “Sudden Death.”
Overall Score: 7.8/10
Myles’s Take: The first album from Mike and the gang in more than two decades is a rerecording of their very first demo, with Scott Ian of Anthrax and Dave Lombardo of Slayer taking part in the recording sessions? What’s not to love? Well, a few things for me personally. It certainly is a very good thing to hear a Mr. Bungle album in 2020, especially after a twenty year album drought. However, I’d be lying if I truly said that this was the one I would have wanted. There’s a lot to be said about just how raw these tracks are in comparison to previous Bungle albums like “California” or “Disco Volante”. Where those records showcased the wild experimentation and genre crossovers that Patton has been known for throughout his career, the singles leading up to this album’s release were consistently punchy, to-the-point, and decidedly no frills. And the full record shows much of the same qualities. It’s that iconic crossover thrash sound that dominated the underground scene back in the day. Though most of these songs are essentially one-to-one remakes, there are some interesting additions throughout the track list that will certainly surprise fans of the original 1986 demo. But many sections of these songs were clearly written more than 30 years ago. In a lot of ways, this record is indicative of just how much the band was able to grow as artists in the few years between the release of the original demo and their debut studio album. There’s certainly nothing to scoff at as far as musical ability goes when it comes to these musicians. Dave Lombardo’s drumming on this record sounds particularly ferocious with the rest of the band. However, as someone who had strictly listened to and fallen in love with Mr. Bungle’s 90s studio albums, I can’t help but long for that envelope pushing, that mind-blowing experimentation, that unique Bungle-ness that made this band one of a kind. These songs are for the most part good while they’re on, but the question of whether or not I’ll feel inspired to return to them in the coming years as I have been with other records in their discography remains to be seen. For now, I feel very torn about it.
Three Standout Tracks: “Raping Your Mind,” “Hypocrites/Habla Español O Muere,” “Sudden Death.”
Overall Score: 6.4/10