Anno Domini 2024. In the early months, the code-whisperer Victor Love donned his Omnissiah robes and preached the score-counter-ruining sermon Nel Nome Del Codice within the Keygen Church. Now, the world’s premier practitioner of digital blasphemy has returned in his true, glorious form: Master Boot Record. There is no digi-christ here, only The Code. MBR is poised to release update 11.0 to your pathetic operating systems. Update name: Hardwarez. This is not the beginning; MBR has long since invaded the AMG website, one virus in particular bestowing 2022’s Personal Computer the title of Record o’ the Month. No, this is not the beginning… but this will be the end. Hardwarez will not suffer your computer to survive. The phrase “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” applies to few artists quite so well as MBR. For any newcomers or rubberneckers, MBR is, to put it lightly, a mix of Dragonforce-adjacent energetic riffage, the classical-minded bombast of Johann Sebastian Bach, and a chiptune videogame soundtrack. The metal is fully synthesized with programmed drums, floppy drive synth riffs, and lightning-quick keyboards. This is how it’s been for ten albums over the last eight years and how it’ll be in the future. If that sounds dismissive, it shouldn’t; MBR’s is a wholly unique sound that works extraordinarily well. However, a man cannot, or perhaps should not, be so prolific in releasing music without even surface-level changes between albums. Love has refined and then maintained the MBR sound across nearly a dozen albums, while progressively updating and experimenting with his songwriting approach, be it through epic, 15+ minute song lengths (C:/DEFRAG), adding a vocalist (Direct Memory Access), or even donning the occasional baroque harpsichord (Personal Computer). This naturally begs the question as to how Hardwarez might aim to differentiate itself… …which it does by being heavy. Stupidly, obscenely, disgustingly heavy at times. I even spun the full MBR discography to be sure, and while a few parts in Personal Computer come close, one could confidently say that Hardwarez is some of MBR’s heaviest material to date, and it’s a blast. Opener “BIOS” boots up Hardwarez with thrashy riffs and fast soloing, while the following “MOBO” builds towards colossal, Bach-iavellian refrains full of classical grandeur. And then, “CPU” drops a riff-heavy enough to brick my computer and is a seriously strong contender for my Song o’ the Year. The heaviest songs hit all the harder because of how they’re placed within the album. Hardwarez is a masterclass in pacing, creating clear peaks and valleys spread across the 42-minute runtime. “RAM” is a joyous, 80’s-infused slab of riffs and hyperactive solos that fits snugly between the less intense “GPU” and the slick, powerful “FDD,” with the latter’s extended synth-y outro escalating beautifully into the immediately massive “HDD.” Excellent pacing like this makes it nigh impossible to grow bored, and when the album is over, you’ll already feel ready to spin it again. In the wake of Hardwarez strongest moments, it’s easy to ruminate over nebulous missed opportunities. While MBR has historically leaned into progressive songwriting, Hardwarez is much more direct; “CASE” being the most obvious, um, case. It ends Hardwarez on a high note and features one of the best, and heaviest, riffs, but it follows a strictly repetitive ABAB structure. Compared to the more adventurously composed “RAM” and “FDD” that augment their strongest moments with build-ups and varied structure, “CASE” begins to frustrate. I want to return for the whole experience of a song, not just one (admittedly stellar) riff. Hardwarez heaviness is its strongest aspect, and, I believe, would be all the stronger were it entreated with bolder songwriting, which Love has proven ad nauseam that he is capable of. Still, this might be unfair. Hardwarez is tight as hell, extremely consistent, and endlessly replayable. It’s a clear success, and worth celebrating—but it’s Love’s own fault for proving that he can do even better. Beyond that, “PSU” is a slight let-down with some melodically cluttered sections, but its worst sin is being surrounded by excellence, and that’s what Hardwarez provides in spades. It might not break the score counter like Keygen Church’s Nel Nome Del Codice on account of being less groundbreaking and challenging in its scope, but Hardwarez is nevertheless another essential MBR release to add to the growing pile. It’s as energetic and intoxicating as ever, and has shown that this heavier iteration of MBR is one of its best and deserves to be explored even furtheERROR—ERROR—ERROR—ERRORRRRRRRRRR