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Mutated Void: Slash the Altar 7” (Sewercide Records) Hot on the heels of their recent 12” on Iron Lung, we have another 8-song 7” from Canada’s Mutated Void. I really liked that 12”, but I feel like my description didn’t get that across… I felt like I needed a flight of poetic fancy to get across how unique that record is, but it didn’t say everything I wanted to say about Mutated Void. That’s OK, though, because I like Slash the Altar even more. Part of that might be that Mutated Void’s music is so abrasive that it’s easier to digest in small chunks, but Slash the Altar is also just a really strong record. Its sequencing works very well, and the a-side is a master class in hardcore dynamics. The first track, “Slash the Altar,” is Mutated Void in a nutshell. I love that the title seems to reference both black metal and skateboarding, and the main riff sounds like something Darkthrone might have come up with during their punk-influenced 00s era, though with the super abrasive and raw production of Goatlord. The riff is straight up nasty, and when the drummer does that slow tom roll into the chorus it gives me those hardcore goosebumps I love. Mutated Void follows that up with two ultra-fast rippers that, like the Iron Lung 12”, make me think of Septic Death more than anything else, then they change things up again for the standout a-side closer, “Tent City.” That song starts with a huge, crashing intro that makes you think all hell is about to break loose, but instead the bottom falls out and the song goes into this eerie, groovy part that seems to have a bit of Agent Orange in it, but it doesn’t sound like much else I can think of. The b-side is killer too, but I could listen to those four tracks on the a-side over and over. Any way you slice it though, Mutated Void has created two of the most unique and memorable hardcore records of 2022.