Soup wrote this thing:
So I figure since my stack of CD's to review is kind of piling up, and I've been pretty lazy, of late, I would start combining reviews in logical ways. By genre, label, release date, etc. So today, I'm talking about some good old fashioned thrash played by some bands that I think get the idea better than most other bands playing this style of music now-a-days.
On the more hardcore end of things is the new album, Infernal Command, by the bay area's Voetsek. Ami Lawless's vocals range from hoarse shouts to high pitched screeches that bring to mind Nausea's Amy Miret. The band is about as thrash as it gets. Speed is the key here. But while the rhythm section is mostly punk, the guitars stray into metal territory quite often with killer leads wherever possible. Double-bass is used tastefully, which is nice to hear in a band like this. This band thrashes through 17 tracks in about 21 minutes, so this thing isn't for the feint of heart.
Lyrics range from dystopian (“Frozen Heart”) to social (“Self Righteous Fuckdom”) to political (“Bully With a Badge/Somone I Used to Know”) to just straight up goofy (“What Would Lemmy Do?”). I'd recommend this as highly for people who are into things like Municipal Waste, Septic Death, Man is the Bastard, Nausea, XBRAINIAX, or Hummingbird of Death as I would for people who are just into old-school 80's thrash.
They've got a few shows lined up, and they all look like complete “burn down the house” sorts of deals. Lack of Interest and Mind of Asian in particular are sick as hell. Here are the dates, and stay tuned to their MySpace page for more:
- Nov 21 2008 LACK OF INTEREST, MIND OF ASIAN (Japan), VOETSEK, CALIFORNIA LOVE + more @ Gilman Berkeley, CA
- Nov 22 2008 LACK OF INTEREST, VOETSEK, MIND OF ASIAN (Japan), SMD, SUMERIAN AXE, TERRORISM in SoCal Boyle Heights, CA
- Nov 23 2008 GHOUL, MIND OF ASIAN, VOETSEK, I WILL KILL YOU FUCKER, DR. KILL ’EM ALL @ Burnt Ramen Richmond, CA
- Nov 24 2008 VOETSEK & MIND OF ASIAN in Portland @ Plan B Portland, OR
- Nov 25 2008 VOETSEK & MIND OF ASIAN in Seattle @ the Rendezvous Seattle, WA
- Nov 26 2008 VOETSEK & MIND OF ASIAN in Eugene, OR Eugene, OR
Now onto the second band of this article!
I wish Sweden's Guillotine had sent me a little more info because I know almost nothing about them. But I'll work with what I can dig up! It'll be okay, I promise. They're on Singapore's Pulverised Records now, a label that I pretty consistently dig. They have one other album out. It came out ten years ago. Their sound is relentless, fast-ass thrash metal. Much more of a straight-up 80's thrash metal sound than the Voetsek album, and definitely rooted squarely in metal rather than punk. I'm not sure I get what these guys are all about, since, unfortunately, they didn't include any lyrics, but their sound is great.
The lead guitar work here is refreshingly creative for this kind of metal, with just enough of a classic sound to be familiar, but with some definite influence taken from Swedish melodic death metal (a style I generally don't like, but it works well here). The drumming is classic thrash all the way through, with a little bit of punk influence, but unmistakably metal overall. The songs here are a bit longer, with 12 tracks stretching over 41 minutes, but not one of them wears out its welcome.
And in true thrash metal tradition, this thing includes cover art by legendary thrash metal artist, Ed Repka (who has also worked with such classic bands as Venom, Death, Atheist, and Megadeth). I'd say it's worthy. You might agree. Anyone who digs things like Kreator will probably be into this. So check it out!
I don't see any tour dates for these guys on the internet, unfortunately, but I'm sure they're good and nasty live. So keep an eye on their MySpace page for some new dates.
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