My thoughts on “ULTIMATE GORILLA BOMBER”, the latest digital single from miscast.

 
Release Date: August 10th 2020

Tracklist

1. ULTIMATE GORILLA BOMBER (feat. DAIKI)

At this point it’s fair to say that nothing has been normal or expected as far as 2020 is concerned. For most, this year is likely to be written off as might as well not having had happened but out there in the real world life does continue ticking on regardless. You adapt and you overcome, and that’s exactly what the Idol scene has been doing this year though some have been much more proactive about it than others.

miscast are a group that haven’t let any of 2020’s goings on slow them down, releasing a slew of digital releases that I’ve done my best to cover here, here, here, here and here if you have no idea what I’m talking about. The group have also been experimenting quite a bit with their sound at the same time, with some pretty interesting and on the whole rather enjoyable results. They’ve taken a month or two off from that relentless release schedule but now they’re back with yet more new material for us to check out.

“ULTIMATE GORILLA BOMBER” is the group’s latest digital offering, featuring guitarist DAIKI from HER NAME IN BLOOD in some capacity which I’m sure we’ll find out the specifics of in short order here. I’m not super familiar with said band but I’m expecting something pretty hard hitting here I guess and hey, if all of that isn’t enough to draw you guys in then at least give it a listen because it has some awesome jacket artwork right? Let’s take a listen.

Well, my expectation for something pretty hard hitting was met and then exceeded within about 10 seconds of the track starting. Chugging guitars, blast beats and some brutal harsh vocal work really make for an intense opener to this song and it’s something I think a lot of people into the heavier genres of Idol will really appreciate. It doesn’t let up the further we get into the track either, with the harsh vocals continuing to do their thing while the other miscast members go with some ominous sounding spoken word verses which make for quite the contrast to the chaos unfolding all around them in the instrumental. I believe we’re told to “Fuck off” at some point shortly thereafter and then we get thrown into a crushing breakdown before being hit with a bright, melodic and very heavily vocoded chorus which is a nice but rather surprising change of tone given all of the previous indicators of where this track was heading. Quite a heavy PassCode vibe to things during these parts, which is a good or bad thing depending on your outlook I suppose. Pretty much the story of the song on the whole really, bruising verses, a couple of well placed breakdowns and some slightly less intense and more melodic output from the choruses. They haven’t gone off in some crazy high concept direction with any of it, but if you appreciate the genres involved already then I think this track slots into your playlist rotation quite nicely.

I suppose there’s going to be two schools of thought on this song. On the one hand you can take it as a very cool collaborative effort between miscast and DAIKI, or on the other maybe there isn’t quite enough Idol in your Idol song and this falls more into the realm of bands and what have you. I dunno, I really liked it at least so draw your own conclusions I guess.

Man, miscast have really been killing it this year with all of these great new tracks that they’ve been dropping. I’m guessing it’s going to have to come to an end eventually but for now I’m very much excited and happy to take whatever else they might be planning on releasing before this not quite so forgettable year is consigned to the history books for all of the wrong reasons. Gotta find the silver linings in the clouds and all that.