{"id":505983,"date":"2026-03-31T22:29:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T22:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/505983\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T22:29:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T22:29:10","slug":"review-moon-tooth-bastard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/505983\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Moon Tooth – Bastard"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Published by Claire<\/a> on March 31, 2026March 31, 2026<\/p>\n

\"\"Album art by Dom Cali<\/a><\/p>\n

Style: Alternative metal, progressive metal (mostly clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Mastodon, Baroness
Country: United States
Release date: 6 March 2026<\/p>\n

Making a four-piece band sound expansive is no mean feat, but it\u2019s one that Long Island\u2019s Moon Tooth accomplish handily. Drawing from the same well as sludge and stoner metal titans like Mastodon and Baroness, Moon Tooth\u2019s music balances heft with colour, favouring dense, proggy arrangements over outright heaviness. It\u2019s a sound they\u2019ve honed across more than a decade and multiple releases, and one that feels both seasoned and crisp. Latest EP Bastard doesn\u2019t reinvent that formula\u2014but in trimming it down to seventeen minutes, Moon Tooth reveal just how much impact they can generate in miniature, offering up four tracks replete with well-oiled grooves and riffs that settled comfortably in my head throughout my time with the release.<\/p>\n

Bastard starts with a bluff: opening track \u201cTRUDGE\u201d is anything but. Rather than dragging its feet, the track bursts through the barn doors on thick, workhorse riffs, ropey guitars cracking like reins pulled taut, as Moon Tooth rollick forward with controlled but muscled momentum. A lightly bluesy, Western breeze drifts across Bastard\u2019s runtime, too. This is most apparent in John Carbone\u2019s vocal phrasing, which is gritty and smoky, occasionally surfacing a subtle country twang. It\u2019s an inspired fit for the band\u2019s broader aesthetic: the sound evokes a tattooed lone ranger archetype, pacing through sun-bleached towns with a revolver at his hip. And the lyrics follow suit, leaning into a kind of far-roaming, whiskey-fuelled frontier blues mythology.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Even at their most muscular, Moon Tooth favour a stately, confident gait over outright aggression\u2014closer in spirit to Mastodon\u2019s sense of grandeur than their more hyperactive moments, with edges sanded down into something more introspective. That sense of control extends to Bastard\u2019s instrumental interplay. Guitars and vocals trade passages with an unshowy assurance, flexing without ever flaunting\u2014less the posed musculature of a gym mirror, more a sleeves-rolled-up, work-worn strength built through repetition and use. Nonetheless, flashes of panache emerge here and there: Nick Lee\u2019s reeling, lasso-loose guitar solo in \u201cMire\u201d, or the rhythmic feint that introduces \u201cI\u2019S\u201d, as though drummer Ray Marte is winding up for a hardcore breakdown that\u2019s a couple genres away down the road. This latter track stands as Bastard\u2019s high point, amassing a weight and breadth that belies the band\u2019s lean personnel count. And in a departure from Moon Tooth\u2019s usual playbook, the track closes with a squall of harsh vocals, a fleeting but feral flourish.<\/p>\n

Moon Tooth display a sharp instinct for pacing across Bastard\u2019s tight runtime. They press forward in moments like the aforementioned heaving, full-throated climax of \u201cI\u2019S\u201d, but then pull back as in the acoustic opening of closer \u201cPUSH\u201d, giving the listener space to breathe instead of keeping a boot pressed to their chest. But if there\u2019s a lingering frustration with Bastard, it may be the EP\u2019s scale. Across the four tracks, there are no obvious weak points, but Moon Tooth are almost too efficient for their own good, as I\u2019m left wanting more. For a band working in such broad, cinematic strokes, you can\u2019t help but wish they\u2019d given themselves just a little more horizon to ride into. If this is just a quick pass through town, it\u2019s enough to make you hope that Moon Tooth stick around a while next time.<\/p>\n

Recommended tracks: \u00a0MIRE, I\u2019S (and while you\u2019re at it, TRUDGE and PUSH)
You may also like: Pryne<\/a>, Lord Dying
Final verdict: 7\/10<\/p>\n

Bastard EP by Moon Tooth<\/a><\/p>\n

Related links: Bandcamp<\/a> | Facebook<\/a> | Instagram<\/a><\/p>\n

Label: Independent<\/p>\n

Moon Tooth is:
\u2013 John Carbone (vocals)
\u2013 Nick Lee (guitar, vocals)
\u2013 Ray Marte (drums, vocals)
\u2013 Vincent Romanelli (bass)<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n