Hunger is the third album by Berlin based alternative rock act Maggot Heart who revolve around the talents of lead singer and guitarist Linnea Olsen, who moved to Berlin from Sweden, she is joined by Olivia Airey on bass and Uno Bruniusson on drums. Linnea was previously in The Oath, Beastmilk and Grave Pleasures.
The album opens with Scandinavian Hunger that repeats the phrase "You are what you eat" over and over as the ideas about how to conquer that hunger unfolds within the slow grunge infested guitars, as Linnea Olsen pants and paws at our ears, can you escape the feelings of hunger or not.
Nil By Mouth is a different kind of hunger, this one enforced upon you, as the guitars rage away the need to survive the coming operation, the raging Hellacopters style guitars, set against impassioned vocals that are somewhere between Jale and Cay, hopefully not as doomed at Cay sadly were.
It's A Long Way Back (From This Road) Abbey Road Unlimited has more of a pop metal feel with drummer Uno stepping up to the vocals as they go down that road as the riff keeps hitting harder, you try to find our way back to safety once more.
LBD is an old school heavy rock tune, built around a super heavy riff, that allows Linnea to tell us all the things we need to keep close to our chests, the middle section goes all breathy as she investigates how she ended up in the state she's in, as brass stabs against that riff the pain is clear.
Archer has a slow intro as Linnea's vocals start to tell the Archers tale as she wonders who is the arrow, who is the bow, while we wonder where cupid is in this tale, as the piano starts to take over from the acoustic guitar as the main instrument.
This Shadow is not the same shadow Jack Kerouac was obsessed by, as this soars musically the vocals get more desperate crying in the dark, afraid to walk the streets after dark in case the shadows get you. As the voices scream in the dark the main vocals become almost spoken word as the horror unfolds.
Looking Back At You is a dark twisted tale for the sisters sitting in jail thinking about what you did, to drive them to do to you, what had to be done, pain and distress come through the drums and guitars, wailing against the pain.
Concrete Soup is what they force you to drink before you go sleep with the fishes, on this song that has echoes of Skunk Anansie in the distressed construction, as the bass really comes upfront for the first time on the album.
The album closes with Parasite that spits bile at all the Parasites trying to take a slice of them, the wall of guitars raging, flailing at the controlling coercive people destroying your life.
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