Meatwound

Meatwound from Tampa, FL

MEATWOUND began in the Mudhaus circa 2014, maybe earlier. Their debut 12” Addio — which was intended to be a demo — arrived in 2015 (making Macho an inadvertent ten-year anniversary celebration of band activities).

Addio sounded like it was recorded on burning equipment in a burning studio but it managed to win over some listeners, and the Steak Mtn cover art began to appear on shirts around Tampa. Many shows went down during these early years, according to the dates on flyers and posters in the practice space. Shows with Melt Banana, High On Fire, The Melvins, Torche, Black Tusk, Author & Punisher, and others were played. Some in the audience enjoyed it.

In 2017, the band’s second LP,  Largo, arrived. A noticeable improvement over Addio, Largo displayed more ambitious song structures, layered noise attacks, better sound overall, and even some (strangely) danceable rhythms. Its lyrics covered topics like cats and life in the city of Largo. Touring occurred to varying degrees of success.

MEATWOUND’s third full-length album, Culero, was released in 2019. The cover featured artwork commissioned by Vincent Locke, most notable for his work for Cannibal Corpse fame. Musically, the band’s sound was expanding; the instrumental “Elders” leaned toward cinematic territory with analog synths courtesy of Matt Akers, “Refusal” was a violent blast that came in under one-minute long, while ‘Fist Of God’ trudged in the direction of Bolt Thrower. Lyrically, vocalist Daniel Wallace continued yelling about longtime targets like religion and politics until the last track where he temporarily drops the ignorance in favor of shouting entire paragraphs “borrowed” from Ray Bradbury. A tour did happen and it wasn’t great. Then Covid happened, and that wasn’t great, either. But after a short break, the band reconstituted.

Enter the Macho era: a slow march progressing in bursts of productivity followed by months/years of refinement. There were multiple demos, rewrites, new tracks built at the last minute, etc. before finally entering Candor Recording Studio in the Summer of 2024. Candor owner/producer/engineer/mastermind Ryan Boesch harnessed the creative nonsense inhabiting the brains of these musicians and maximized the sound of it, remaining patient throughout. Bolstered by the experience and enthusiasm of Boesch, the band delivered something better and worse than before (allegedly).