New Music – The Mutants of Jersey

To entrap the sound of pure aggression is never an easy task, it takes years of meditational anger and incredible pain to break through the rough outer shell of a human psyche and to then tap into the unending folds of despair is a task almost unachievable. Ho99o9 or more formally pronounced Horror, is a wealth of absolutely noise-driven sucker punches of bass, screams, and almost never-ending sound that can manage to evoke more movement and more emotion within the near fifty-minute record than a party full of punk rockers. The genre-blending, emotionally-driven assault is wonderful in its own right, and makes for a memorable journey that never overstays its welcome, but does destroy the house you live in, burn the car you drive, and spray paint nearly ever wall in your happy home, a dark, unwashable black.

Ho99o9 is comprised of two, unified members and often times a third who fills in for the percussion. TheOGM and Eaddy are the two primary members, while Ian Longwell often times fills in for their live performances and the trio makes for an incredible display of intriguing instrument bending and impressive switch ups throughout United States Of Horror. From the classic punk rock, more straight-forward approach with a simple two step percussive beat and one of, or even both vocalists shouting at the top of their lungs; to the grinding style of some of the later tracks that take the listener by surprises as they lure those in like a creeping snake waiting to strike on a prey. The track “Feels Like… – Interlude” is a perfect example of acting as a pure hip hop track, including a classy undertone and a large focus on the instrumental aspect. The mood is then quickly changed however as the beat fades out into “City Rejects” which takes inspiration from GG Allin and some of the godfathers of punk rock. With the sporadic vocals and the buzzing string section, Ho99o9 makes bold moves in creating a mutant of a record with the enjoyable factor being pushed to the forefront, ignoring the practicalities and rules of creating a true full-length record.

Perhaps it is even later in United States Of Horror where the consistent changes are even more progressive and if “Feels Like… – Interlude”, “City Rejects”, “Hydrolics”, and “New Jersey Devil” where all played in a consecutive manner with no context, every track could seem like it was produced by entirely different artists all together. Both “Hydrolics” and “New Jersey Devil” are such polar opposites that the sudden transition will leave you speechless and questioning just exactly where Ho99o9 has been all your life. “Hydrolics” starts with a very trap influenced, wavy style of instrumental with a focus on the glamour of rattling hi-hats and crashing bass drums that act almost in a boom-bap accordance. “New Jersey Devil” is however an unexpected blast of double-bass slapping right through the past track, and leads right into a hardcore influenced wave of blitzing guitars and vocalization. One thing that can be said about Ho99o9 is that they have a serious amount of energy and really seem to take a true love in paying homage to what made hardcore such a popular genre in the first place. They can stomp heads into the ground with the punishing sense of instrumentals one second, then take the mood down several notches into a more chilled, club style of track that reminisces about the cold nights in Jersey.

It is by no means an easy job, but someone has to do it. Ho99o9 is not the lord and savior of music, but peace was never an option with Ho99o9 and they soon make for the quick break to the fire pit, destroy everything in sight, and bring a swinging mix up of fun-filled punches and questioning morals, making for one hell of a ride.

Listen to United States of Horror Here!!! – Spotify/Soundcloud/iTunes