I remember being so excited to see Jon Mess as a guest feature when I first saw this song come up. Much like the clichè, I came for the feature, stayed for the band. Eidola feels like a more mature version of Dance Gavin Dance, and in many ways is a sister band to them, but this song in particular sees Eidola taking the more fun route.
The moment the song starts, it's already full fledged funky. Weird slides and harmonics alongside Jon and his signature style of weird lyrics, an immediate punch to the face. They quickly follow it up with Andrew's cleans, an otherwise nice verse save for one very interesting detour into a super high note. All this is backed by a really fun guitar riff. The calm, melodic parts are soothing and the chorus is catchy. The guitar's are going ham in the back, and even more so after Jon comes back with some of the lowest screams I've ever heard from him.
Going into the second act of the song, Jon does this weird alternate panning polymeter-ic lyrical delivery that's both confusing and heavy. Andrew comes back with a short high-energy verse before they drop out to this calm bridge and then go straight back into the chorus. The final part of the song is very epic and intense, closing out this song with a powerful edge.
Mutual Fear has a lot of fun stuff and is definitely a stand out on the record for Eidola. Rapidly switching gears and juxtaposing sounds, the final soundscape is surprisingly sensible despite how jarring it seems like it should be. It's such a fun track to listen to, and one of the better songs on the record.
Rating: 4.5/5