DISMEMBERMENT - The Condemned CDEP
Self Released
Genre: Thrash
Rating: 4/5
When the whole neo thrash revival started making waves a few years ago I was one of those old school scumfucs who stood up and cheered. In all honesty that's all I could do since I don't run into slam pits anymore and well what people call pitting today is sort of a joke. But to some degree I'm still cheering these bands on although the field of battle has become history repeating itself. The initial tsunami has passed and now we're dealing with the smaller waves. Some of which are simply mediocre sounding coat tail riders who just wanna make a buck or two while others are actually trying to leave some scars behind in order to make themselves known. Regular readers of SFM666 know full well of what I think of the former which is why the latter ones are much more appealing to me. I don't know what will happen to this four piece thrash act from Ohio a few years from now when the jaded ones regain control and crush the rebellion of their mainstream music tastes. One thing for sure is that presently this six song release of theirs is some decent sounding thrash which is not out to break new ground or showing progression (thank you very much since I remember the late 80's). On the contrary what they're doing on The Condemned is full filling a need. For thrash fans that need means slamming into every piece of furniture in your room and at least knocking a hole or two into the walls with your elbows while this release is playing. Don't worry about the mess since you can simply put on some safe sedate stuff later to get you in the clean up mood.
Since this is an EP the band really has no time to fuck around with atmospheric intros to entice your senses. Frankly I'm really sick of that shit. Instead they just open with the title cut as if it was a spiked club and proceed to beat upon you. As far as style and influences go this band has one foot firmly planted in the more angry thrash side of the past US greats or at least should have been greats while the other foot is with the Teutonic ones like KREATOR or DESTRUCTION. Instead of razor blade like slashing these guys are using their songs like daggers for deep cuts. Maybe my calling them simply thrash is a disservice since they slip in much more as far as structure and style goes. These guys will be blazing along and then without warning break down into some blackened riffage or a death metal groove which keeps things interesting. Now obviously that's nothing new especially if you consider what their fellow in state thrashers SKELETONWITCH have been doing but it's certainly a hell of a lot more entertaining than another EXODUS/SLAYER wannabe. In fact it's a reminder that Midwest thrash acts have always had this attitude which says we don't care how they do it on the coasts. It's the same with the vocals which instead of being caustic are actually hateful sounding rasps being spit out. If there's a problem I have with this release its that there's not enough of it. Otherwise DISMEMBERMENT are the type of rule breakers which will keep this genre exciting without having to lower themselves to those "core" standards or jazz progression.
Bandcamp: http://dismemberment.bandcamp.com/
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