Album Review: M(h)aol, Attachment Styles

Opening with an urgent guitar riff before a thumping drum beat kicks into gear, the slow tension that eventually lets rip is just a taste of the spine-tingling nature of M(h)aol.

Feverishly necessary; Róisín Nic Ghearailt’s powerful, raw depiction of rape culture and the boiling rage it induces on ‘ASKING FOR IT’ could stop any listener in their tracks. “The law loves people that look like you,” she concludes, her immersive spoken word delivery fluctuating between near-silent utterances to riotous screeches.

One thing about M(h)aol, they don’t have any fucks to give about making listeners uncomfortable. If anything, they feed off it. Second track ‘I’M SO BORED’ ("of talking about men") describes the endlessly exhausting cycle of patriarchy and the chaos it unleashes on the world around us, while ‘NO ONE EVER TALKS TO US’ (“...unless they wanna fuck”) is effortlessly tongue-in-cheek.

Elsewhere, the loyal five-piece's industrial and incendiary frustration is captured in a live element by bassist Jamie Hyland, who innovatively bends sound to her will.

Attachment Styles rips up the rules on gender, queer joy, desire, performing femininity, biphobia, sexual abuse and everything in between. “He says nice guys always finish last, but I didn’t finish at all" is one of Róisín’s best lyrics, while ‘PERIOD SEX’ is a down-tempo banger for the ages.

Elsewhere, ‘FEMME’ and ‘BISEXUAL’ bring layers of confessional vulnerability mingled with wit ('trysexual' is a new favourite term). Ambitious, fearless but always playful, the quintet are unpredictable beyond belief.

Armed with a Rough Trade publishing deal and brutal honesty, M(h)aol are a force to be reckoned with.

Score: 8/10
Listen: ‘Asking For It’

Listen to Attachment Styles below, out now via TULLE.

Read more album reviews in Hot Press' Hot for 2023 issue.