After releasing an all-hands-in debut a couple of years ago and expanding their time spent on the road Fargo, North Dakota-based death metal quintet MAUL return with a more focused, streamlined version of themselves for this sophomore full-length album. Though there is yet a certain knowable signature available to ‘In the Jaws of Bereavement‘ their craft is a blunt weapon, a metallic hardcore inspired fusion of hyperactive choices sewn underneath very simplified modus concerned with steady chunking pace and less of the kitchen sink exuberance that’d defined their will to kill early on. The trade they’ve made here is for clarity and physicality in exchange for a far less eclectic work overall and this is smartly in keeping with the simplified direction of modern death metal’s functional commodification.

After four years of uncertainty, experimentation and a few line-up changes Maul ended up with a litany of smaller releases that’d feed their best into an eclectic, pretty damned groove-heavy debut full-length (‘Seraphic Punishment‘, 2022) which pitted metallic hardcore bluntness as framework for snaking ‘new old school’ death metal movement. Of course it’d be easy to take that description on paper and apply their sound to a host of bands mixing simple groove metal riffs with early 2000’s Hatebreed beats and landing somewhere nearby Jungle Rot with it but you could tell they’d put a lot of work into keeping it moving, keeping it fresh enough with all kinds of accoutrement be it keyboards, a variety of guitar tones, and a broadly stated vocal style that centered around a throatier growl as the main event; The major points to take from that debut were that the quintet had tons of energy, were decidedly a ‘new school’ death metal band with an organic enough sound, and the core of their gig was mid-paced pit riffs moving in myriad, sometimes nonsensical directions. It didn’t score far above average in review on my end but it was entertaining, particularly in the first half as all of those quick-hitting tricks hit rolled out one after another.

The in-betweener EP ‘Desecration and Enchantment‘ (2023) more-or-less set up the possibilities for further destruction, landing far simpler chunking blows to start while also venturing into new territory on “Disintegration of the Soul”, leaving me thinking this new LP will be something that pushes above and beyond the instant gratification folks are obsessed with of late in terms of “fun” pit riff shit with unilaterally applied personae. My comments on the EP at the time amounted to: “I’m still kinda tentative on their stuff but interested to see what they manage on their first LP for 20 Buck Spin, if it carries this style over into something more elaborate I’ll probably be on board.” From the sound of things those pieces’d been cast-offs from the sessions for ‘In the Jaws of Bereavement‘ which has no such room for ~6-8 minute post-metal inflected death metal movement and weirding atmosphere. In fact this second LP general just crushes through their moshable side for roughly ~40 minutes straight.

The suggestion from the press materials for this album is that grief and anger are the general fuel for this level of focus and however obvious that might be to death metal pragmatists out there it also helps to convey where this metallic hardcore vernacular and its endlessly roaring persistence comes from. That isn’t to say that Maul have cast aside the complete suggestion of dynamic venture per their previous cassette EP, songs like “An Alluring Deceit” and “Midwest Death” go their briefly, but rather they’re not going to go there for more than a minute or two here and there. In this way they’ve sidestepped the presupposed similarities to labelmates Civerous and instead created a blunt, loud and easily parsed experience in ‘In the Jaws of Bereavement‘, suggesting that the big boss production sound and simpler grooves of this album compared to ‘Seraphic Punishment‘ aims to honestly portray the reality of their live sound with a bit of extra boom to its presentation.

So, “Maul go chug now?” yes, Maul go chug big-time and then some as they develop hardcorish tension throughout the first three or so pieces on Side A starting with the Bolt Thrower-esque main progression + backgrounded lead which helps the title track/opener “In the Jaws of Bereavement” build its up front atmosphere before the snappier, kicking grooves start to take the listener to pound-town quick. This bouncier spectrum of death metal typically ain’t it on my end but when set next to the slower burnt main riff it’d definitely felt like these folks chose bigger punches to throw off the bat. If that song wasn’t enough to signal the mosh metal and deathcore folks to spin their ball-caps backwards and start throwing punches, eh, the additional vocals from the fellow from The Acacia Strain should’ve taken you there quick enough. The main reason I’d stuck around from that point was solely because these folks had taken all previous records somewhere inventive, full of piss and fire in the past.

How many guitarists does it take to write four riffs? Roughly three in this case and credit due to the full get-up from engineer/producer Adam Tucker at Signaturetone Recordings as he keeps all of those thundering layers heavy and precise in their chugging n’ trampling press throughout. This obviously hit hardest when Maul‘d pull out all of the stops, cracking into the stuff that gets the pit going but also references classic death metal trait and nowhere is this done better than the inspired step of “Spontaneous Stigmata“. The standard set by the previous album is best met right there and that’d been the right place to end the first half per the gloom of “An Alluring Deceit”, a remnant of the experimentation they’d done over the years boiled down to a transitional piece.

Over on Side B of course “Midwest Death” warrants some attention for vocalist Garrett Alvarado‘s range and presentation, some of which’d been unlocked on “Spontaneous Stigmata” via spoken parts and such, where I dunno if the lyrics are really saying anything but the band’s gift for hardcorish, stomping tension and eerie tones feels well placed in transition per the second half of the experience. I dunno if I was totally shitting my pants over any of the riffs beyond that point, I mean “Unbridled Delusions” and “Stuck Stomped and Smeared” both definitely hit their intro riff game and the latter even hits a few complimentary lead hooks to boost that effect but the structure of each song is simple to the point that that opening riff is typically the main event for each ~3.5 minute piece. I dunno if I would say they’re playing it safe here but a song like “With Each Voracious Lick”, which pulls out some brutal death weirdness before pulling out a simple chugging riff and calling it a day, kinda feels like they’d repeatedly side-stepped much more than the most basic compositional twist for the sake of just getting on with it. This’d meant most of Side B read as vignettes for 2-3 riffs apiece without offering a truly interesting vessel for the level of vocal personage available here, at least nothing that’d lead to a true holy shit moment.

With a clear purpose, plenty of big moshable riffs, a few highly detailed songs, and a certain attitude/personality carrying through to this second album Maul are in a good place with ‘In the Jaws of Bereavement‘. Though the album is way too straight forward for my own taste in terms of rhythm guitar interest I know exactly how well their style will translate to a live show where folks are going to show up to whip limbs and primate out, so, I can’t necessarily fault the band for taking things in a pit friendly direction. Overall I appreciate the boon to the production values as well as the excellent cover artwork from Wyrmwalk as these elevate this album to a next level beyond the last. A moderately high recommendation.

---