Every time we think we've seen it all, something like Tallah comes along and throws our entire high school record collection in a blender while babbling like Serj Tankien on sixteen Red Bulls. It's their refusal to take their foot off the gas that pushes Tallah's second album even further than 2020's Matriphagy. It's absolutely bonkers, not least because it sounds like a mashup of Dillinger Escape Plan, early Slipknot and Mushroomhead updated for a modern audience. Sure, there's nü-metal riffs and wicked whack turntable skillz on display, but The Generation of Danger never sounds dated. Tallah are playing with the energy of ten bands and winning fans over with sheer demented abandon. If you can't get onboard, be sure to stay out of the way. Things could get wild.
One can't accuse them of being slouches or having Second Album Syndrome. The Generation of Danger has thirteen full-length tracks, each weirder than the last. It ends up sounding more complete than the first record ever did. Tallah skirt the line towards harsh noise more than once, mangling their sound equipment with blaring feedback and distortion. At other times they recklessly spiral through different nü-metal subgenres. It's almost impossible to tell where they'll land next.
Instead of holding things together, vocalist Justin Bonitz just adds to the chaos. He kicks things up even further with one of the most unhinged performances of 2022. Whether he's jibbering like a maniac, spitting rap bars, shredding his throat with pig squeals or finding his inner arena rock frontman, he might be the most unpredictable member of the band. Someone book a Will Ramos collaboration before Tallah run out of whatever is fueling this insanity.
The nü wave of nü-metal has gone two ways recently. Half the bands are content with running the same sounds as last time, while the other is embracing all the innovations in heavy music's last two and a half decades. As always, Tallah take the left hand path. There's a lot of deathcore on The Generation of Danger, just like there's a sense that the band has listened to their share of Code Orange and Knocked Loose. They proudly wear these influences on their sleeves, but never so much that any one gains dominance.
Any fan of the last twenty years of metal should find something to like about The Generation of Danger. Tallah is about as subtle as a bunch of cavemen beating a drum kit with rocks, but they're so dedicated to the chaos that it's admirable. By the time Tallah finally throw in the towel at the end of "Thistle," you'd think they would drop dead from exhaustion. All that's left is another surprise. "How Long," a mid tempo acoustic ballad that morphs into an industrial rap track before the band gives us one last gigantic chorus. A fitting way to end one of the craziest records of this year.
