Mask Appeal’s self-titled debut EP on Slouch Records lands less like an introduction and more like an arrival. Drawing from the shadowed lineage of post-punk and deathrock, the trio of Dante White-Aliano, Dan Graziano, and Mike Shelbourn sound immediately self-possessed, wielding friction and theatricality with intent rather than nostalgia. Though each member brings decades of underground pedigree to the project (White-Aliano’s noir-honed guitar sensibility shaped by work with The Starlite Desperation and The Detroit Cobras), and a rhythm section steeped in industrial-adjacent weight, their individual histories dissolve into a singular, dark-hued vision. The result feels both archaic and urgently modern, like something unearthed rather than newly made.
The EP opens with the serrated edge of “Slice & Slice,” a statement of hierarchy and purpose. Graziano’s bass dominates the mix, thick and propulsive, anchoring the music while White-Aliano’s guitar oscillates between spectral melody and edged dissonance. Shelbourn’s drumming provides the skeletal framework, primal, repetitive, and drenched in cavernous reverb, holding the chaos together without ornamentation. This taut chemistry carries into “Ten Hurrahs,” where the pulse remains unrelenting and the line between celebration and dread collapses entirely.
“Pure Trash” is a visceral eruption that leans into grit and abrasion without sacrificing groove. It highlights the band’s keen sense of negative space, allowing raw noise and atmosphere to coexist rather than compete. From there, the EP slips into its most ritualistic moment with “Ancestors.” The percussion takes on a ceremonial gravity, driving a composition that feels like an invocation rather than a song. Haunting vocals coil around the bassline, creating a hypnotic effect that lingers well beyond the track’s final decay.
Closing track “An Era Ends” serves as both resolution and thesis statement. Melodic melancholy intertwines with a relentless forward motion, encapsulating the EP’s fixation on beautiful decay. The production resists modern sterility, opting instead for a resonant, lived-in sound where instruments are allowed to bleed into one another, reinforcing the music’s physicality and emotional weight. Mask Appeal’s debut is uncompromising and intellectually bracing; a reminder that the macabre and the dissonant remain fertile ground, not relics, when approached with conviction and craft.
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