Last year, it was with the reissue of their debut EP that Medium made some waves throughout the scene. Mind you, those waves weren’t nearly big enough, if you ask me, but those of us who heard it know that Medium is a name we should not let fade into deep obscurity for they’re easily one of the more exciting bands to come out of the modern landscape of all that is crust, yet they accomplished a good bit more than that. After barely a little over a year of waiting, it’s with a second EP that Medium returns to us continuing the precedent that they set with that self-titled debut with a more mature sound that makes this scathing band all the more interesting right from the get-go.

Perfectly blending together many aspects of extreme metal with a punk attitude to culminate in a truly compelling crust sound that I haven’t heard done as well from many other acts out there today, Medium really set a standard with their debut in just seven tracks. Yet, it’s with just four this time around that Medium presents to us a work that somehow feels more well-rounded, mature, and voracious in a way that every proper follow-up should aspire to be the moment it starts to be penned. It starts as early as the cover art – the chaos that Medium is bringing forth with “Habitat”. Far from anything different that was present on the preceding EP, it is still throughout the whole of the work that this fledgling act does a fantastic job at keeping the energy at a constant high without exception even as they offer the generous reprieve of fading from one song to the next to give the listener a brief moment of calm, but it never lasts long for Medium is always on the move in some form or another. Neither the instruments, vocals, or attitude of “Habitat” in its entirety stays still to let us decompress as Medium really sinks their hooks into our ears so with such excellence that it’s damn near jaw-dropping to see this done on what is just the band’s second EP, and it’s when it’s all brought together that one cannot help but feel overwhelmed by what all “Habitat” boasts without shame. And why should it have shame doing so? Virtually every factor of the EP is executed with devilish quality, and I’d happily argue with anyone who says otherwise.

High quality crust works like this are quite rare for me, which makes it stand out even more, but I cannot help but feel that Medium has so much more to offer to the scene at large than for an occasional visitor to the sound like myself and it’s here where that’s in full swing. The very essence of “Habitat” is that of scathing intensity, and if there is any single thing to be said about this work is that it’s an unrelenting work that wouldn’t stop should even the planet cease to spin.

LISTEN to “Habitat” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Medium on Facebook here.