mavis told the truth

Hey howdy ho how do I begin? I haven't written stuff here in a "few" years. I'm gonna make an amateur review of a record that I hold very dear in my heart.

Kid, Feral is a 3-piece from Skövde, Sweden. Vile plays guitar and yells, Ossian plays bass and sings, and Jesper plays drums. They dropped a demo in late 2016, with two songs that got onto this full length that I'm reviewing today.
Their blend of chaotic screamo and chill-ass post-rock segments is right up my alley and so I've decided to do a long ass dumb review of every damn song on this record.

1. So Much Money in the $kramz Game
A little bit of feedback and away we go. The first thing you'll notice is the tempo that this track has, and it just runs you over at 100mph. The second thing is you'll notice that the drummer is insane, then the bass and guitar proves to be equally insane as they drop half a key and smothers you with a glow of notes right in your lil face. Jesper and Ossian goes into a rhythm section while Vile's screams cover the empty space. The vocals kind of harkens back to old Loma Prieta, Last City/Dark Mtn-era vocals, which I love. Overall everything just sounds really good, and apparently Vile has recorded, mixed and mastered everything himself?! Props.

2. Sensory Overload in the Afterclass Bathroom
Right off the bat this track hits you with a nice lil intro before it goes into a steady beat for the verse. I remember that my first reaction was that the vocals are blended in perfectly with the instrumentals. Even though the vocal style is on the rougher side you can hear almost every word and - damn, did they just play blastbeats over an unfittingly pretty melody? It's not unheard of, but few bands have done it well. This band pulls it off extremely well. In just 1m28s this band shows off more versatility than many peers before them.

3. Permanently Stuck in Small Town Limbo
This track smacks you in the face with a sick-ass rockandrolliroller riff and a really good rhythm section, before it drops into a slower more pretty segment. It's even got piano in it! Buuuuut hang on, there's a sample in the background, and I can't quite make out what's being said. Thankfully the band provided sample translations in the lyrics sheet. The tone starts to change and they're building up a huge release aaaaand hold the fuck up, did they just tease us? They drop into yet another tease, but it works. It gets you pumped, and then when everything finally explodes, it's just perfect. What follows is a section with a guitar solo and Hellacopters-style piano accents in the background. Love it.

4. Where You End Up Is Not Who You Are
An instrumental track, with a digital beat. Meh, it's pretty good, but I think it's an odd song to include in the record. It would make more sense as a separate project in this style (and I'd listen to it!). Sure it gives you some breathing room, buuuut-

5. This System is a Bunch of Baloney
..there's already some breathing room to get in the opening of this song. You get some nice plucked guitars and some light rhythm, and.. yet another sample. It's not that I inherently dislike samples. It's just that I feel like the samples are covering up some very pretty music and it steals my focus. I'd rather listen to the very pretty guitars and the "choir" going on, but it's a bit ruined by the sample. The rest of the song is freaking FANTASTIC however. Probably my favorite outro of all the songs, it just hits you so fucking hard.

6. Listen Up You Nazi Fucks
Speaking of hard-hitting, this song is literally a punch in the face from the get go. There's not much to say, apart from that there's a sample in it and I yet again disapprove just because I'd rather hear the music y'know. Just click play above and BASH YER HEAD.

7. Firedragon3651 Logs Out for Good
Without a doubt my favorite song off the record, maybe tied with This System Is a Bunch of Baloney. Starts off with a very good intro section and the transition when the vocals begin feels very natural. Jesper starts hammering the drums and Vile yells something about a hospital bed. I can't really focus because I'm busy buckling up as to not fly off my seat because of, yet again, the insane tempo just runs you over and makes you very alert. But then the mood changes and it drops down to a more "numb" part, before Vile yells "here we go again!" and the train keeps on rolling off the tracks. You'd think that'd be the best surprise in the song, but only 7 bars later we hear "there's not a moment that feels like reality" and FUCK ME BLUE TO SHREK TWO they just dropped into a samba "breakdown" and I can feel a single tear roll down my cheek and I shrug my head and wonder how in the hell a band from fucking Skövde just made me cry (which hasn't happened since I saw Suis live and that might have just been my pollen allergy). Outro has a solo in it and the last four guitar chords keep ringing in my head long after the song is over.

8. The Smallest of Intermissions
Like the title says, a small intermission here to catch your breath/get a paper towel and wipe away the last couple tears. You can hear Vile, Ossian and Jesper talk about something and it's hard to hear, but I definitely heard someone say Jesper is handsome. And on that note, I feel like this might be the most wholesome band I've witnessed in a while. When you watch the music videos on Youtube (and their v-logs) you can just tell that they have a friendship out of this world, and it's lovely to see.

9. Quit Without Saving? (Y/N)
Ugh, such a perfect closing track. It was already a pretty sad song, but then you find the lyrics and it's a literal punch to the gut. This is why music is such a great outlet, you can just pour your heart out and you don't need to hide it behind stupid metaphors just to sound "deep" or whatever. This is unfiltered reality written down and shouted out. Not much to say here either except that it's the perfect closer with the perfect mood.

For some closing words, this is without a doubt my absolute favorite album in a loooong while. I think it hits me extra hard because it sounds just like something I would write myself, except more polished and more imaginative. You can tell that a lot of time was put into making these songs as good as they could potentially be, and it was worth that effort. Literally the ONLY thing that keeps me from branding it as "perfect", is the samples. Everything else is just amazing. Honest lyrics are always a huge plus, and no drawn-out segments makes it perfectly paced as well. I can't wait to hear their next release.

9,5/10