Album Review: MDK - 'Front Lines, Dark Times'

Melbourne’s MDK have dug their roots in deep supporting the likes

of Behind Crimson Eyes and Identity Theft, all the while taking time

to pinpoint the most effective elements of their music, ungraciously

shit canning anything that doesn’t pack real punch. This meticulous

process is no easy task, but undeniably worthwhile. The result is ‘Front

Lines, Dark Times’, six straight up tracks of truly hard hitting energy. 

We kick things off with Troubled Times, a song I thought an odd choice

for an opening track at first, until the pummeling, anthemic chorus

broke over my head and I got a real sense of what I was in for. This

song is a perfect example of a band who are in total control of their

sound and know exactly what to do with it.  

But the highlight comes in the form of Loud And Clear, a blazing attack

of crunching guitars interlaced with knife edged melodies and vocals

that make you want to shout at the top of your lungs, tied together

with drum fills that fire like a tommygun. To me, this sums up perfectly

what MDK are capable of. 

This isn’t to say the disc is without flaws. One Soldier’s Lament,

while still a snappy song, to me doesn’t seem to be as concrete as

the rest. Whether this is a result of it being rushed in writing, or

an older song that got left behind as the band’s style progressed,

it just doesn’t boast that level of control or ease that makes the

rest of the tracks great.