Album Review: Mayak – Allegiance To None

Keep on screaming until your lungs come out. I will hunt you down.

Lyrics from “Jagdgründe”.

One of my favorite metal discoveries of 2013 was German band Mayak. After hitting the replay button over and over again on their four-song EP, I’m happy to report that the noisy quad has finally released their first full-length, Allegiance to None. The band originally hoped to release the record in the spring of 2014 but for whatever reason, that didn’t happen. But you know that old school saying that good things come to those who wait? It totally applies to Allegiance to None.

I’m a huge fan of death metal, especially if it contains a few grim grooves along the way. Seven songs strong, Allegiance picks up where the bands energetic EP left off, with a few apocalyptic touches along the way. Full of high-energy riffs and gravelly vocals from Mark Döring, it’s the fist-pumping track “Return to Dust” that sets the tone for the entire record. So tough are Döring’s vocals that I’m pretty sure he’s gargling with rocks before he rips the microphone a new one. Weather or not rocks are involved, Döring’s vocals are as dangerous as my made-up story it’s probably true of how he learned to growl like a crypt keeper. In other words, I wouldn’t pick a fight with a man that sounds like Mark Döring. Would you?

If Döring’s vocals are competing with anything on this record for recognition, it’s the guitar work of Mayak guitarist, Philipp Grimm. For me, Philips’s polished, on-point solos are the stars of this record. On “Jagdgründe” Philipp brings some rather unmistakable south of heaven riffage. Rather unsurprisingly, when translated Jagdgründe means “hunting grounds” – and the song itself plays out like the grim soundtrack for a Saturday night killing spree. Unlike 2013 Mayak, Allegiance definitely has more of a dark metal tinge to it, especially when it comes to the lyrics (written by Döring) that are rife with neck-cracking nods to death, vice, mythology and the life-taking power of nature that you never see coming. Pretty heady for four dudes that professed that their original plan was to form a “stoner band”, but instead ended up with enough fury to create their own special brand of “metallic hardcore/punk”.

It’s been a pretty good ride for Mayak so far. After amicably parting ways with their original drummer André Blumenstein, Sinan Kreye came on board last year and played his first gig with Mayak opening a show for PDX metal heroes, Red Fang. Kreye (who plays bass in the long running band, Souls for Sale ) will be headed to the US for a west coast tour with his other band, RUINS (that also features Mayak bassist, Jonas König), and Döring hopes Mayak will will make it to the US before too long. For you vinyl junkies out there, the band pressed a total of 300 LP’s (available over at  their Bandcamp page.) including 100 in translucent green, and another 100 in black and white marble. As if I couldn’t ♥ Mayak any more than I do now, the band let me know that they also plan to release Allegiance on cassette via Berlin label, Mustard Mustache.

Take a listen to “Jagdgründe” below.