#UNITED MUTATION Fugitive Family EP

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

PROTO-DEATH METAL VOCALS IN AMERICAN HARDCORE -- CLASS OF '83.

PIC(S) INFO: Spotlight on Arlington, Virginia "outsider" hardcore punk band UNITED MUTATION, established 1980 as DARK SELF IMAGE, and now infamous among hardcore circles for having some of the grimmest, most grotesque vocals of their day.

YOU BREED LIKE RATS: "How did Mike Brown come up with such a disgusting, and amazing, voice (years before many death metal and hardcore bands would adopt similar styles)?"

JAY FOX (U.M. bassist): "Mike Brown's voice… No effort was made, that's the way it came out. He eid work on it after the fact but it was never planned as a vocal style. We have been touted as being innovators in the style as well as criticized by people who seem to think we were bandwagon jumpers, but the truth is, that was Mike's voice. What you hear is what it was."

-- YOU BREED LIKE RATS (2008 A.D.)

Sources: http://youbreedlikerats.blogspot.com/2008/06/new-interview-with-jay-from-united.html & CVLT Nation.

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

THE CREEPIEST VOCALS IN AMERICAN HARDCORE ARE ON THIS RECORD -- THE YEAR HARDCORE PEAKED.

PIC(S) INFO: Spotlight on a first pressing of the "Fugitive Family" 7 inch EP by Arlington, Virginia-based hardcore punk band UNITED MUTATION, jointly released by DSI/Dischord Records in 1983. Only 1000 pressed.

"A truly amazing record. UNITED MUTATION have combined the speed and intensity of basic thrash with some highly distinctive structural changes, a couple of nasty guitar leads, and the scariest vocals I’ve heard in a long time. Today’s trendy horror rockers will crap their pants and go into convulsions when they hear the singer’s raspy growl, which bears a striking resemblance to that of the demon in "The Exorcist.""

-- MAXIMUM ROCKNROLL, c. winter 1984

REVIEWER: Jeff Bale

LABEL: Dischord/DSI [Dark Self Image]

ISSUE: MRR #11 • January/February 1984

Sources: www.maximumrocknroll.com/band/united-mutation & www.picuki.com/media/3117060201286345825.