3 out of 5

Label: Learning Curve Records, The Ghost Is Clear Records

Produced by: Matt Perrin (recorded by, mixed by)

I’m well past the point of being “shocked” by heavy music. I’ve been hanging around in the hardcore space for (glances at watch, looks sheepish) decades at this point, and have touched on different extremes in noise and metal such that when something like Missouri Executive Order 44’s 15-minute, 11-song album of “I’ll kill you on command” narratives crossing my desk, shouted and bashed with thrash intensity, I’m kind of surprised how… normal it can all sound. Which maybe sucks. Maybe it’s a better experience to hear all of this stuff with new ears. But I dunno, I think it makes it especially special when a record can actually break through.

To their credit: MEO44 are close. The “narratives” are an extension of their namesake – an executive order that was on the books for quite a long while that was a death sentence to Mormons – taking that as a jumping off point for espousing rhetoric of those who just blindly follow commands. While I dig how in-your-face this messaging is, and how it’s blended with read outs from Mormon literature, that’s all a bit confusing: MEO44 aren’t necessarily fighting for Mormons, rather just against mindless allegiance, which makes the adoption of some of this imagery “ironic,” underscored by titles like “Wear Me Like a Mitt, Romney,” and kind of undermines some of the seriousness and intensity. I mean, it’s good to be able to take the piss out of oneself, but there’s a balance to it, and the presentation of the band (art design, music videos) and vitriol in the singer’s screams and Daughters-y mumbles are harder to map to that irony.

Setting that aside to focus on the tunes, the Daughters nod is part of the “close, but not quite” calculation: MEO44 mostly sound like other acts, with that vocal tic an identifiable “I’m trying to be different” affectation that, for me, doesn’t quite land, as it feels put on. Thrash also requires some breathing room to be effective, and while the band gives us that with the between-song samples, I wish more of the songs themselves had it built in; we rarely get breakdowns or conclusions , just all out screams for 1.5 minutes and end, up until the final few songs on the album provide slower moments which reach into Converge territory – highlights of the album, and pretty great, and memorable, tunes.

Their name and their intensity have earned MEO44 some notoriety. Here’s hoping the band sticks it out for some more releases to evolve their sound past initial shock value and leverage their clear skills and abilities.