Stereomud's abrasive breed of hardrock is direct and to the point with razor sharp chops and hoarse voiced grooves. The band features former members of Stuck Mojo and Life Of Agony and although the ghosts of the past do show up, particularly with Life Of Agony reminiscent melodic songwriting and sharp Stuck Mojo like riffs, the bands closest comparison winds up being Sevendust.

Vocally the album is blunt and can bring to mind a mix of Disturbed and Sevendust with slightly off time rants careening into full blown soulful coarse wails and grunts. Very moody and yet at the same time melodic, there's not an excessive use of range, but the always jacked up intensity and usage of occasional backing vocals helps round things out and drive things home. Guitars are edgy and feel modern, but are by no means totally new metal as they lunge through pointed riffs that feel rigid and work their way up into the occasional solo or two. An aggressive distortion and slight downtuning is in play, and gives a bit of snarl to the crunchy notes hit and overall the chunky nature manages to pummel the listener back a few steps. Bass confidently lurks in the background, hooking into the guitar riffs, and dragging punchy downtuned notes with ample rumble through each track, while the drums round things out with a humble tuning and solid offbeat rhythms to kick everything into gear.

The bands dark, almost bluesy down home feel combined with volatile energy and dead on seriousness really keep the engine of this band firing. This alone could make the band a gratifying listen, but when coupled with the mature songwriting displayed here, its hard not to find yourself getting lost in the hooky, throbbing songs this band pump out by the shovel load. Perhaps the only bad part about the group is the somewhat strong resemblance their music can take to Sevendust. This could possibly turn away some fans from the get go, but aside from that, the clever infusion of melody and utterly catchy choruses make this demo rather infectious. Stereomud have already secured a record contract becoming the first rock act signed to the Loud Records label, and given their history and ability to make balls out muddy hard rock songs that suggest intelligence and aggressive qualities, its not hard to see that this band is going places fast.
(4 / 5)