DESCRIPTION:
You guys like The Crucifucks?

Good, because Meat Dreams is pretty much like a second-rate Crucifucks. Yeah, I know, it’s a little lazy of me to start a write-up by directly comparing one band to another, but goddamn, these guys are like a failed reincarnation of The Crucifucks. Like, it sounds as if Meat Dreams crawled out of the Crucifucks-cloning-chamber with a leg protruding from their shoulder, a Kuato-like creature writhing on its chest, and a second set of teeth emerging from within its cheek, and somehow that abomination went on to start a band called “Meat Dreams”. The influence might not be immediately apparent, but trust me, it definitely germinates thoroughly as the tape progresses.

Despite how easy it is to draw connections between the two, I have no idea about how many characteristics of Meat Dreams were spurred by the 80s Michigan-based punk group. All a member had to tell me about his project was that they’re a new band located in Belchertown, Massachusetts, and that he also plays drums in The Burnt Offerings, which is another Massachusetts-based band (that makes for a funny musical contrast if you listen to these two groups back-to-back: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDTpUzl0SW0). So really, it’d be a little rude and assumptive of me to say that they’re aiming to be a Crucifucks clone, because objectively, Meat Dreams has a lot of fantastic things going for it that shouldn’t be marginalized due to sharing musical similarities to another group.

Since I didn’t have much information to go off of with this group, I thought I’d do some classic punk-detective work and scavenge the internet for any extra information on Meat Dreams. I think it goes without saying that I found nothing; that’s completely normal for me. At most, I’d find videos of a show the bands were involved in, or Facebook event pages for said shows, and that’s about it. What, you expect one of those punk news sites to write about something like Meat Dreams? They’re too busy brown-nosing Lumpy and The Dumpers or something. But it’s fine, Meat Dream’s material can stand well-enough on its own, regardless of whether or not I can dig up any worthwhile information behind it. They’re completely gonzo, there’s no other way to describe it. Their insanity is further reinforced by a music video for their song "Fragile Male Ego" that I came across, which I’m assuming was made by a member of the group (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHPZMNaTYD8). It opens with a shot of a table that has “kill me” spray-painted on the surface, then subsequently cuts to someone haphazardly cutting various fruits and hot dogs with a knife, before closing with multiple shots of said person squeezing a fistful of dogger-meat.

Clearly, Meat Dreams is committed to a weirdo aesthetic, and their music acutely reflects that. They’re a hardcore group that sometimes edges on rock n’ roll territory, but its incessanty gets in the way of making a full transition. Compared to Crucifucks, they're considerably more belligerent, and aren't afraid of adding excess chords and guitar-abuse to outline their songs with supplementary sounds to further weird you out. And the vocalist, man, the vocalist. That guy sounds like he's in a world of his own, one that I can't ever hope to fathom. His lyrics, at least those that you can make out, are unintelligible and crude, and are often delivered at a rapid-fire pace that'll make your mind rattle. Lines like "kill yourself, stick to your gun and eat it, I'm not being mean I mean it", "do you need your dick sucked to see the tip cup", or "go get a job, you lazy piece of shit" displays that Meat Dreams aren't aiming to be subtle; they're overtly confrontational, and don't care for political correctness. Give "Cop Brain" a listen, and completely lose yourself in how bat-shit insane it comes off as the vocalist's whiny voice continuously yelps "COP BRAIN" above the rest of the tittering nonsense. My jaw hit the floor as soon as I heard that track, it cemented my belief that these guys are the second-coming of The Crucifucks. Better or worse, that's subjective, considering both bands have directions that're skewed in comparison, but Meat Dreams is still insane and should be admired for their own musical efforts. They probably would find some reason to hate you, but don't let that stop you from getting invested in their kookiness.

TRACK LIST:
Counseling - 0:00
Fragile Male Ego - 2:09
Cop Brain - 3:19
Yelp - 5:00
My Thing - 7:12

DOWNLOAD: https://meatdreams.bandcamp.com/album/demo