Children of Technology - Written Destiny (2020)

Italy's Children of Technology has always been a band I've wanted to like more than I do; their aesthetic blend of punk, thrash, speed metal, societal decay, mutant apocalypse leather and spikes has that inbred appeal to my inner child of the 70s and 80s, and they have always felt like what might have occurred had Voivod swerved their first few albums into a more Stateside crossover style. Now, I'm glad those Canadians did NOT do that, because they're the most amazing band ever and I've enjoyed just about every step of their journey...but I just mean to say that Children of Technology have that genuine 'cool 80s B-movie' vibe about them, and they've maintained it even through my mixed reactions to their full-length albums, of which Written Destiny is only the third...

And I'm happy to say, their best! 2010's It's Time to Face the Doomsday was fairly stylin', but their sophomore album didn't really further my appreciation. Written Destiny hit on all cylinders so fast for me that I purchased it almost instantly after giving it a test listen. There's a maturity here, a willingness to just settle into some great riffing blend of heavy/thrash metal which catches your attention right away and then holds it. I'm not saying that they've brought much nuance or invention to their niche, but straight up, the brazen metal crunch and wailing leads of "Soundtrack to No Future" set up their scythe-wielding, biker mutant aesthetic, and then the screaming and speed metal take you away to a far-flung land of radioactive bliss. Raw, nasty vocals, great gang shouts that resonate past them, and incendiary rhythm guitar tone just rattle every pleasure center in my being, and this one doesn't let up. There's DEFINITELY a huge nod to Voivod's War and Pain, and this almost sounds like a better mixed cousin to that, especially on the killer title track or the shuffling wasteland of "Desert City".

Granted, the vocals here have more of a mix of nasty nasal pinch to them than Snake's punked out pitch, but the use of the howled cleaner vocals also draws some comparisons, so they spice that up further with the occasional grunt and growl, and epic early Tom Araya screams. Riffs are very simple, like War and Pain filtered through some NWOBHM, a couple of the frillier riffs you'd expect from the blackened/speed sect so popular these recent years (for good reason). They writhe in some tremolo proto-death metal riffs here or there too, and it all gels together so well while maintaining a very down to earth, blue-collar feel to it. The riffs are never technical, not even original, but the album is simply a blast and everyone should own it, whether your jam is Manowar or Hellripper. Italy's got quite a good little scene of these bands, with Bunker 66 and Baphomet's Blood also whipping out some strong albums lately, and while Written Destiny definitely has more of the true heavy metal coursing through its nuclear bones, it's certainly one of the best in that scene to date.

Verdict: Win [8.5/10]

https://www.facebook.com/COTofficial

Prong - Peel Sessions EP (1989)

Once upon a time, The Peel Sessions was like an MTV Unplugged, only for cool people, featuring cooler bands, and not unplugged. John Peel was an eclectic English radio host who would promote all manner of underground musical genres by having bands perform a quartet of tracks live on the air, and a good number of these were turned into commercial products. This has actually become quite a popular premise in the age of YouTube, with several radio channels or online shows hosting lots of varied bands in comfortable little studio settings and giving fans a free, concise show. Back in the early extreme metal scene, names like Carcass, Bolt Thrower, Napalm Death and Extreme Noise Terror were part of this, and the Peel Sessions arguably helped grind and deathgrind reach some of its highest visibility...or audibility ever, during the late 80s and 90s. Prong was an interesting case as one of the few US bands to be broadcast, naturally it tended towards the British bands who were more local to the radio channel itself.

The trio's choices leaned heavily on Force Fed, their most recent album at that time, with "Decay" and "Senseless Abuse" represented, while Primitive Origins is present through "In My Veins". The final selection was pretty interesting, "Defiant", which would be the B-side on the "For Dear Life" single to promote the forthcoming Beg to Differ. It's a passable tune, one can see why it wasn't rhythmically interesting enough to make the album itself, but what really surprises me the most is how it sort of set the tone for all the material here, which comes off cleaner and tighter than you'd expect from the band's first two official releases. On the one hand, it shows Tommy Victor and crew were quite proficient and professional in the live arena even at this point, and on the other that the direction of their material would be using a punchier, more polished guitar tone. Although the songs sound fine in this context, I do admit that they lost a bit of their edge and volatility for me, but then again live sounds offer differ for many bands; there's simply a small chance that you'll always be able to reproduce the studio conditions in either a live venue or live broadcast.

I do think the bass line suffer here a little, drowned out by the snap of the drums, that pugilistic guitar tone and the Victor's McGruff the Crime Dog vocals, but otherwise it all sounds pretty smooth, the playing nearly perfect to the studio recordings. I doubt I'd ever go to grab this when I prefer the more uncouth Force Fed versions of the songs, but it's cool to hear "Defiant" as I have never owned the single it appeared on. This is another of those releases which has been out of print now for going on 30 years, and so today it serves largely as a collector's item and tribute to Peel's legacy of having on great bands which he saw something in, many of which have gone on to steady or illustrious careers despite having little to no coverage in more mainstream access media outside their genres. It was a little more exciting when it came out, I remember grabbing all the cassette versions of these when I could find them, but few of them had anything I didn't already own from the bands on their albums.

Verdict: Indifference [5.75/10]

https://prongmusic.com/

Prong - Primitive Origins EP (1987)

Primitive Origins might have served personally as more of a primer for the brilliant record to follow, but it's apparent that even in its origins, Prong was a slight standout from the rest of the crossover crowd. Not forward, nor above, but sideways, and below, sporting a novel approach to the style that would drip straight into their sewer-thrash future. I liken this EP to a mix of their NYC peers and the West Coast splatterthrash crossover of acts like Cryptic Slaughter or The Accüsed. This isn't quite so forceful or powerful as a disc like the Crumbsuckers' Life of Dreams, but it certainly takes a more nuanced and left-field approach to its riffing, which would carry through to all of their later releases as they morphed their sound throughout the 90s and beyond, until only recently when they seem to have settled on a particular polished thrash style for a number of subsequent albums.

While the whole three-piece lineup here is solid, I think it's really Tommy Victor who contributes the most distinct ingredients. His vocals have a downtrodden gruffness to them which is both abusive and ugly, somewhat more primitive even than a lot of the other tough guy barkers in the NYC crowd. It's almost like having some battered construction worker or public works engineer coming off shift and grumbling at you in some late night greasy spoon, and yet the lyrics are quite heavily sociopolitical and fairly interesting even by the pissed off standards of the 80s. His guitars, though, are even more interesting, raw and fast but not afraid to inject a little eerie dissonance into the chord choices that makes them feel subterranean, or some more pure metallic tremolo picking parts like the intro to "In My Veins" or the bridge of "Watching". There are frilly, wild lead guitars here too, something you don't always expect due to the punk roots it has sprouted from. Don't get me wrong, there is plenty of angry hardcore charge riffing happening all over the place, so fans of Agnostic Front and Sick of It All will find plenty to love here, but Prong certainly didn't shy away from the longhair aspect of their band, and it's this complete embrace of the varying aspects, and those they'd adopt down the road, that propels them.

Now, granted, I don't personally find a lot of the riffing here to be quite that memorable, especially the more standard hardcore/crossover riffs of which there are a good amount. Some of the patterns certainly set up tracks they'd write for Force Fed, my favorite Prong album to this day, but the notes just don't always fall into place, and this actually has a cleaner production than that album, crude by some standards but not as rash and raw and atmospheric sounding as the successor. But with eight tracks in under 20 minutes, its concise and energetic enough that you don't ever have time to get bored with whatever material you find lesser, and there are enough of those interesting little shifts here to keep your attention. I'd also say that, despite the production differences, this was one of the periods where the group's sound evolved the least between releases. Sure, Force Fed has more of a dynamic range, stickier riffs, and more abrasive production, but the style between the two is overall comparable enough that if you enjoy one you'd be drawn to the other.

Considering the historical value of this record, and the subcultural popularity of New York hardcore which thrives on to this day, I'm kind of surprised Primitive Origins hasn't seen some sort of large label re-release with one of the imprints Prong later circulated around towards. For all I know there is some sort of legal issue or lack of interest by the band, but I think this is one that fits right in with an interest in that time period, and while I'm not as much a fan of this as I am Brightside, Blood Sweat and No Tears, Life of Dreams or even the Crumbsucker's own metallic evolution Beast On My Back, it's a good one to break out once in awhile for those genuine old tones, and its earnest energy. At the same time, it's really just hovering over the manhole the band would plunge into for one of the best, grimiest, and still relatively underappreciated albums to ever hail from that scene.

Verdict: Win [7/10] (the walking skeletons still cling to life)

https://prongmusic.com/

Coffin Dust - Everything is Dead (2016)

Coffin Dust unquestionable hails from that same death/thrash tradition pioneered by Carcass as they distanced themselves away from their goregrind origins. More recently that mantle was taken up by the family of bands that includes Exhumed, Impaled and then Ghoul, who have been running with it since well before the British butchers reformed. Yes, that was sarcasm. There's at least one member here who has played live with Exhumed, and the roster and ex-members of this group have a pretty vast repertoire between them which encompasses a number of sub-genres. Put it all together and you've got what I might dub a more 'organic' sounding proxy to Matt Harvey's deathgrinding flagship, one that differs in production and also in some of the songwriting nuances.

I enjoy that the record is book-ended with a pair of swollen, dark synth parts that set up the vintage horror aesthetic, but I'm not sure the rest of the material here really matches it other than the themes running across the lyrics. Instead, this is a very crisp, spry blend of tremolo-picked death metal lines, faster 80s thrashing progressions and even a good chunk of crossover/hardcore when the band wants to barrel roll into something more straightforward. The rhythm guitar tones are quite natural feeling, not as heavily saturated as, say, Exhumed, and this lends itself to a lot of slick, speedy little guitar licks which were quite consistently catchy throughout the six originals here. Even better, there are a lot of interesting little lead guitar blitzes that give the whole experience a bit more depth than I had expected, and these two are dispersed throughout the origins and helped hold my interest even in the few sections where I wasn't on board with the rhythm passages. Hooks for days, not that you haven't heard their like before, but performed with some engaging energy.

The bass throbs along the low end, occasionally walking off on its own groove, but I also wanted to compliment the drumming here, which is quite solid, with some cool little shuffling beats used to perk up sections of tuns like the titular finale. The vocals are a satisfactory guttural for the most part, well fit to all the sub-styles being blended into the record, and actually helping mold them into one whole, and there are also a lot of snarl/growl dual vocal parts which is par for the course with just about any band in this niche. The cover of Slayer's "Metal Storm/Face the Slayer" is quite well done, and fits in fluidly with the original tunes, revealing its obvious influence on the thrash side of this Pennsylvanian newcomer. All told, the album is a compact 35 minutes, I was never lulled into any sort of boredom. A few of the more hardcore styled riffs didn't do a lot for me, but these were easily compensated by all the quirkier little melodies and speed/thrash licks. So if you're looking for a band in the vein of Exhumed, Ghoul, Frightmare, or Ex Dementia, but with a slightly less blood & guts production style, this is well worth a listen.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

https://www.facebook.com/CoffinDust

Insanity Alert - Insanity Alert (2014)

You won't even need a second glance at the cover of this Austrian band's eponymous debut to know what they're all about. The D.R.I. shirt and vest, the bent up hat, the straightjacket, all of the violent moshing and tearing up the town... Clearly we've got a party thrash crossover band from overseas, forming at around the same time they'd be inspired just as much by other nostalgia-fueled acts like Municipal Waste as the originators of the style back in the 80s. Sure enough, Insanity Alert comes complete with goofy ass lyrics about zombies, weed, beer, skateboarding, and most importantly, THRASH ITSELF. Because honestly we wouldn't have had any idea otherwise that this is exactly the sort of music they intend to celebrate and rub your nose in repeatedly.

Now, to be fair, while I've often found this approach to thrash metal to be rather disposable and laconic whenever bands other than Tankard do it, Insanity Alert realizes the low bar of its thrash ambitions with a pretty hefty, exciting riff-set. Sure, if you've spent the last 30 years listening to groups like Nuclear Assault, Anthrax, Hirax, Exodus, Vio-Lence, Cryptic Slaughter, D.R.I. and so forth, or the more recent proxies of this sound like Iron Reagan, Gama Bomb and Municipal Waste, then this is nothing unexpected and a lot of the rhythm guitar patterns are predictable, but even with that in mind they are explosive enough with their hooks to have you smiling. The mix on the album is quite good, with clear, cutting guitars, peppy drums, and even some solid bass tones when that instrument is given some breath of its own, although generally it sits comfortably behind the rhythm guitars doing little to stand out. Vocally you know what to expect here, a bit of splatter thrash, some gang vocals, and a lot of lines that sound strikingly like John Connelly only with a little less of the genuine vitriol, but in general they move by so blazingly fast and frenzied that they get the job done and will satisfy what the diehards for this niche crave.

There's a little bit of an excess to the cheese here, literally on "Macaroni Maniac", not the first and not the last thrash anthem for the layman's comfort food (thanks Annihilator), and tunes about getting wasted and smoking up are a dime a dozen, but once in awhile they had a slightly more fun topic in there like "Arac Attack" about spiders, or "Flamethrower". I mean this is two topping pizza thrash and both of the toppings are cheese. The band make a good use of a few samples, especially as an intro to the album closer, their dorky cover of "Run to the Hills", which they have dubbed "Run to the Pit", because man you can't have thrash metal without talking about MOSHING, and THRASH METAL. M I Rite? Nevermind that the many of the greatest albums of the genre did neither and could be taken somewhat, or completely seriously...no, we've gotta keep those keywords in there lest our audience forget somehow that's what we were on about. A little bit too self-aware for me.

Regardless, the only song here I thought was actually dumb musically was "Blunt In/Blunt Out" for its dumb Southern heavy rock grooves that sound pretty weak alongside the Austrians' more frenetic fare. The rest are perfectly passable for the style, with "The Claw (Of All That is Evil)" actually being quite awesome, and others like the hardcore-infused "Shit for Brains" and "Crucified by Zombies" passing muster. The lyrics are beyond stupid, at one point I think they even paraphrased Snoop Dogg or whatever he's called now, but if you're listening to pizza thrash like this to garner some sort of important social message or intellectual stimulation you've come to the wrong place. Or maybe the right place. Either way, while Insanity Alert doesn't quite distinguish itself from better records by Municipal Waste, Iron Reagan, or their like, it's actually fun enough to recommend about 13 of the 15 brief, fast-paced tracks to those who live lives full of bong hits and mosh pits, or those of us who wish we could. Assuming you don't have Zombie Attack, Survive or Hazardous Mutation at the ready.

Verdict: Win [7/10] 

https://www.facebook.com/insanityalert

Rostok Vampires - Transylvanian Disease (1989)

I had encountered the name Rostok Vampires a handful of times through the 80s and early 90s, probably referenced in some zines, or perhaps the 'thank you' list in some album's liner notes, and I thought whoever they are, they sound kind of cool, as we often would think scouring the metal underground before being faced with the reality. It would be around a decade before I'd tracked down any of their music, which happened to be their first full length album, Transylvanian Disease. Cool band name. Cool album title. My expectations were that this was going to be some sort of horror crossover/thrash band, but in reality that's more what they evolved towards on later efforts, like their sophomore Misery, which had a lot more metallic riffing across its tracks than this debut, which is more or less a straight horror-punk record with only a few brief guitar parts one might classify as thrash or heavy metal of any sort.

Transylvanian Disease is essentially a hardcore punk album, very heavily influenced by the Misfits, as you can tell by the happy, predictable punk riffs wed to the pained, howling, Glen Danzig-a-like vocals and gang shouts. The difference is that, contrary to what the cool cover artwork implies, the lyrics and song themes don't seem terribly rooted in horror. Perhaps a little of the imagery conjured in the lyrics of a few tracks, but largely this is a mix of the personal non-conformist punk shtick with some social and political lyrics, such as "Faith" which covers Islamic extremism, or "Gun" which might be a criticism of firearm ownership, though the lyrics are fairly minimalist. So right away we've got this huge thematic disconnect which only breeds some degree of disappointment, after seeing that illuminated graveyard, dark trees, and thinking this was somehow going to be some creepy crossover. Just know this in advance, it looks a lot cooler than it sounds. Now, having said that, the Rostok Vampires debut is actually not all that terrible of an album, if you're into the punk and hardcore sounds of the early to mid 80s and seek out records that followed along that path.

The album opens with a screaming sample and then breaks down into a drum-driven, groove which frames some stock rock chords and weird, atonal leads, all before the inevitable circle pit thrust with the raving vocals that places itself somewhere between the Misfits and Minor Threat. The guitar tone, drums and general atmosphere are actually quite good, it sounds snug with its times and that automatically lends itself to a sincerity a lot of genre fans really crave. The songs don't seem like they required a whole lot of thought to conceive, split between some energetic muted hardcore riffs and punk 101 chord progressions, but there's at least a little bit of fire lit beneath these Germans, a little more anger and rawness, rather than the kitschy drive-thru horror vibe of Danzig, Doyle and crew. Bass and drums are about as frantic as this genre got back them, and you certainly get the impression that if this were played on a stage in front of you there would be a whole lot of mohawk-slinging shit kickers whipping their leather jackets and spikes around. Although once the lead guitars break out, and there are several whipping around, a few of the true might have gotten confused.

The Vampires seemed comfortable in this sound, but apart from a few slightly darker riffs or breakdowns where the tunes seem to mutate towards more 'core or metal, it's just not a set of songs that have really stuck with me whatsoever. I would never pick this one out of a lineup against the Misfits, Ramones, Black Flag, Seven Seconds, The Exploited, Agent Orange, or any of the other early punk and hardcore that I often find myself spinning through the decades. They offer a little more than some shallow impersonation of the American and British scenes, to be fair, but really didn't seem to have hit their stride at this point. Coupled with the missed opportunity for some creepy, atmospheric, unique Euro punk or hardcore that really embraced the horror theme that their moniker and album title imply, it was quite a disappointment when I at last got around to listening to it. I'd easily recommend heading straight for their heavier, thrashier albums like Torment of Transformation and Misery, but if you're super invested in that 80s heavier punk sound then you could do worse than Transylvanian Disease. Just keep the fangs and fake blood in storage, because this album does.

Horror-meter: Two out of ten pretty gravestones.

Verdict: Indifference [5.5/10]

Haunted Garage - Possession Park (1991)

Possession Park is a record I remember more for the place in which I didn't initially purchase it than for any of its musical ingredients, a small shop in a neighboring town which only hung about for a few years but had a wonderful owner who maintained a small specialty metal sections. Largely cassettes, since CDs hadn't fully exploded by that point in my neck of the woods, they were all over the racks, but for whatever idiotic reason I stuck up my nose at them, defiant of their inevitability in replacing the medium I had already blown so much of my paper route money and allowance on. But there was the Haunted Garage full-length debut, possibly one of the few tapes I didn't actually liberate from those shelves, constantly staring at me week in, week out. This was a time in which I had honestly started to lose some faith in Metal Blade, not only for the swing of metal trends at large but because they had begun to populate their roster with utter mediocrity like Skrew and Junk Monkeys and simply couldn't be relied upon as often as Slagel and company had been throughout the 80s.

Listening back on this lost and forgotten record now, I feel like my decision was the right one, but not because Possession Park is an utter shitshow. This was essentially a crossover thrashing punk vehicle which was helmed by Dukey Flyswatter (aka Michael Sonye), an actor for some low budget horror and exploitation flicks like Nazi Surf Punks Must Die whose own infamy has long outlived this musical project. The cover promises EXPLICIT LYRICS and some Satanic Amusement Park fun, possibly with zombies and clowns and all manner of colorful 80s horror kitsch, and staring at the artwork kind of arouses nostalgia for Halloween parties with stuff like green punch, bobbing for apples, ghost decorations made out of bunched up tissues and really bad Dracula costumes. So at the very best I figured I'd be in for a metallic "Monster Mash" with some more controversial fare, and yet it doesn't really deliver on any of the promises that its outward aesthetics might hint at. The lyrics do delve into campy horror flicks and possesses a little inappropriate edge to the lyrics, but it's hardly like they're just uttering 'fuck' and 'shit' in endless succession throughout every single track, at least not where I can make out the lyrics. It's actually a little more of a timid experience than you think you're getting into, but not one crafted without a modicum of competence.

Musically this is a mash-up of party punk rock and the sort of harder crossover that West Coast bands like Cryptic Slaughter and Suicidal Tendencies popularized. A closer comparison could be drawn to the GWAR debut Hell-O, before they adopted a more thrashing edge to most of their material on the sophomore. Airy, distorted riffs involving just a few chords here or there, no more than you're like to hear on your average Offspring joint, but brought down to street level by the plunking bass lines and the urban edge to what patterns those chords are fashioning. There are a lot of lead guitars which were very similar to Rocky George's approach, bluesy and wailing and elevating the songwriting from the graffiti-smeared ghettos into a more fanciful 'metal' territory, but rarely memorable and in some cases just plain excessive and unnecessary to the detriment of the tracks in which they were placed. As a general rule with this record, the more filthy, shorter and 'punk' the tunes get, the more respectable they seem, with stuff like "She-Freak" even coming across like a bastard stepchild of the Misfits and antique Voivod. But even though there is some coherence to the style throughout, there is a sense here that Haunted Garage wasn't 100% sure what they really wanted to accomplish, a flaw that is forgivable on a debut album but doesn't exactly endear it to me either.

Bands like this often lived or died on the distinction of their front men, but while Mike Muir and Glen Danzig and even Excel's Dan Clemets put their own individual stamps on their bands that happened to be supported by great music, Dukey Flyswatter often gets lost in it. Personally I find that he sounds like a raucous blend of GWAR's Oderus Urungus and Blaine Cook of The Accüsed, with a lot of Rob Zombie's splattered rock & roll waaahs and yeaahhhs thrown in there, but the lines he spits out just feel sloppy and goofy and not to the music's benefit. Probably more entertaining in a live setting where he's got other antics to sate the crowd, but on the disc here it just never feels nasty or catchy enough to care, especially when the material he's shouting over is just paint-by-numbers boring rock with a slightly punk frill to it. Tunes like "Torture Dungeon" are all right because of the mean turns taken by the guitars, and his tone is effective, but even then there's just nothing special on Possession Park that will keep you engaged beyond just a handful of spins through some of the better numbers, and the rest are vaguely tolerable for just a single play.

The production does tend to hold this together. Drums are lively and tight enough to flirt with both the standard rock momentum and hints at a faster, hardcore lethality, while the bass lines are fat enough to support themselves even if they're just following the guitar. Leads are always apparent and take charge, but the gain on the rhythm guitar can feel a little too grainy next to the vocals and rhythm section. Still, it's often bright enough to forgive this, and the album sounds more professional than I would have expected, and probably more than it even needs to be, since fans of this niche often value the smattered, violent and lower fidelity mixes which enhance the vitriol and aggression of the bands. If you like how Scumdogs of the Universe or America Must Be Destroyed sound, though, then you're not going to have much of a problem here, and when the band stretches itself a little with acoustic guitars or weirdo guitar sci-fi effects ("Little Green Men"), it's handled pretty well.

Haunted Garage trends a little weakly for me, and doesn't manage to attain the levels of fun and engagement that many of its peers achieved years before it arrived. It also commits the crime of naming a subpar song "Welcome to Hell" when there's already a perfect song called "Welcome to Hell". BUT...it's not completely awful, and the band themselves must have felt some spark of nostalgia since they've recently reformed. If you're a huge splatter rock/crossover fan or you really enjoy all those GWAR-related gimmick bands like Green Jelly and the X-Cops, then this is a curiosity you might wish to at least sample, but Possession Park is not some absolute failure that I can entirely write off without acknowledging some of the corny care that was obviously put into it. But man, I miss that little record shop. I'd have gladly blown the $7.99 on this tape if it could have helped keep the place in business.

Verdict: Fail [4.75/10] (my horns grow, they swell)

Children of Technology - Future Decay (2014)

This is a band I've always wanted to like a lot more than I do. The post-nuclear streetpunk get ups, the great artwork, the viciousness they exude from every radioactive pore...Children of Technology are like the likely villains from some giallo low budget, obscure knockoff of The Road Warrior and they have the musical hooks to sound the part, too...so why don't they fully capitalize on them? The answer is that they often write songs with too obvious punk chord progressions where a bit more spit, venom, and thrash would really do the trick. Don't get me wrong, their modus operati is one of punk and 80s speed metal fused into a fun time with perhaps a little bit of a pessimist message about our shared tomorrows (informed by more than a few cult bands, books and films), but where the songs are so huge on raw energy, they're conversely so low on memorable riffing that I feel let down. Their proper 2010 full-length debut It's Time to Face the Doomsday was good stuff, the best I've heard from them, but even there it fell shy of excellence due to the simple fact that they're not writing up to the potential of their image.

Future Decay goes louder and huger in scope, with a seemingly broader sound budget that gives the bass and rhythm guitars a lot of momentum, while DeathLörd Astwülf's half-growl/half-bark is just as petulant as ever. Never forget your umlauts, kids. As for musical influence, this is still heavily centered on the 'splatter-punk' sort of crossover that bands like Corrosion of Conformity, Cryptic Slaughter and The Accüsed (what'd I say about umlauts?), but there is far less muted thrash style picking in the riff selections. In fact, tunes like "Future Decay" and "Blackout" incorporate a total tough nut NYHC aesthetic that reminded me heavily of bands like Sick of It All, Killing Time, Cro-Mags or the first Crumbuckers record. Brazen, bold chords that are meant to represent a circle kick or a curb stomp to the listener, but unfortunately here the patterns seem redundant with those that have come before in three decades of that medium. That said, they're not exactly a one-trick pony with that style, since the bass lines show some obvious Lemmy influence and they also pitch in a few squiggling, nasty speed metal licks the likes of which you usually hear by a lot of blackened speed thrash metal bands like Deathhammer, Antichrist, Cruel Force, and so forth, which pair up pretty well with that pissed off/constipated vocal timbre.

The Italians do not shy away from some atmospherics here, which balance out some of the blander riffs so that they don't ultimately feel as generic as they might have. Cleaner, deep vocals will soar over the thrust of some punk riff into the leather 'n' spikes city night atmosphere, and the intro with the pianos and throbbing ambient backdrop definitely conjures up an 80s cheese/horror film vibe which I was silently praying would be captured throughout more of the album. That's just not the case, though, and while there is admittedly some variation between the tunes so they don't all bleed together into one indistinct, monotonous heap, I feel like they just never go far enough with them. When they toss the odd muted thrash/core breakdown or even a part that hinges on death/thrash, it's just too banal sounding and never involves anything intricate or unique. The French band Zoldier Noiz, who toil around in this same pulp dystopian wheelhouse, do a slightly more interesting job of taking a fairly typical riff set and then owning it, putting a slight dissonant spin on it which feels fresher. And that's the thing: Children of Technology has an absolute shit kicker of a concept running here (and they always have), but too many of these retro theme bands settle for less when it comes to writing the music...

Don't settle for looking cool and trashing the bar. Burn the whole motherfucking street down in a frenzy! Write music that sounds like a swarm of giant mutant hornets on motorcycles, not just what-Exploited-riff-can-I-paraphrase-next! Have you not heard Animosity, Killing Technology, Life of Dreams or Rrröööaaarrr (umlauts!!!)? Those albums did what this one wants to, 27-30 years ago, and they sounded a lot more genuinely fucked up, brilliant and nasty doing it. Future Decay isn't a bad album by any stretch of the imagination, the production itself is superior to the music. But let's face it...Mel Gibson would kick this thing's ass before the opening title, where the first Children of Technology album might have at least made it a few more scenes before being run over.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10]

https://www.facebook.com/COTofficial

Meatshank - Scavengers (2010)

Meatshank is a three piece crossover/thrash band out of Missouri, with a stronger emphasis on the latter genre in terms of how they structure their compositions. They've been kicking around for a few years, and Scavengers is their second self-released album which was released a couple years ago in 2010 but is just now getting a surge of additional promotion. Normally, I don't go out for a lot of the material I hear in modern bands of this niche, because too often do I feel that they rest on the laurels of the 80s forebears like Cryptic Slaughter or D.R.I. and don't offer any sort of ambition or forward momentum. That said, I felt that Scavengers, while not entirely blowing me over in terms of its song craft, is rather a dynamic and hopeful sophomore which doesn't ever come across as either derivative or excessively nostalgic in its execution, and the level of variation employed by the band often pays off.

You definitely get a hint of that explosive, faster paced crossover riffing in the driving tunes like opener "Meet Your Maker" which seems a mix of violent 80s US thrash (both coasts) and some of the splatter core stylings of Cryptic Slaughter or The Accüsed; as riff-oriented as heroes Municipal Waste but not so goofy in its demeanor. However, a good portion of this album is devoted to a more traditional, mid-speed thrashing gait, and here is where the band delivers most of their best riffs, like the bridge to "Rape, Murder, Arson, Rape", or the straight late 80s Anthrax/CoC/Exodus vibes of "Atmosphere of Violence" which had my neck quivering and my teen years flashing before my eyes. I think where the band really explores that pure thrashing side, they actually do a decent job of capturing that decade, with the caveat that the vocals of Vincent Camarillo are more distinctly angry enough that they might have drawn a little influence from Exhorder, Pantera or Pissing Razors.

But to their credit, they vary things up even beyond this, with the atmospheric clean intros to "Sweet Release" and "Hell Road" which are rather well plotted, or the melodic/speed sequence that inaugurates "Symbiotic Annihilation", one of the better songs outside of the admittedly lacking inclusion of the more guttural vocal experimentation. All proof that Meatshank are not just a bunch of skate rats trying to relive another age, but a band actively trying to balance its attack with a well-rounded aural architecture. The very meaty tone of the guitar and its organic interface with the rhythm section only adds to this charm, though I'd certainly like to hear a slightly fatter tone on the bass (since he can obviously play). If I had some criticisms, I think I greatly prefer the more sneering, faster paced percussive vocals than the more 'tough' thrash timbre on the slower sequences, and the rate of sticky, memorable guitar progressions here is only about 50/50, with the leads feeling little more than filler that never capitalizes on the excitement of the rhythms. Sequentially, I found the first few tunes forgettable and then it grew more interesting over the course of the remainder.

Overall, though, Scavengers is not in any way a bad effort, and these guys clearly have the chops and sincerity to go the distance. There's nothing pretentious, cheesy or needlessly complex here, just abusive, street ready thrash, and even if my reaction to the end product was lukewarm, I do sense a caged potential here which might either burn itself out or go nova.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10]

http://meatshank.angelfire.com/

Pasadena Napalm Division - P.N.D. EP (2010)

Pasadena Napalm Division is what naturally occurs when you transplant the instantly recognizable vocals of the dirty rotten imbecile of crossover royalty himself, Kurt Brecht, over the angry riffs and drums of the late great Dead Horse members Greg Martin, Scott Sevall and Ronny Guyote, then season with bassist Bubba Dennis II of Verbal Abuse. All Texas, all attitude, all the time, and the P.N.D. EP is the band's first foray into a recording studio. You're probably going to expect some high velocity crossover/thrash, and that is precisely what manifests here, a lot closer to D.R.I. than Dead Horse, but with busier riffing than you'll find on a classic like Dealing With It (or Crossover itself).

The band has no delusions about what it's setting out to create here, and that's a simple and fun unit through which to exert some anger and live entertainment. Six tracks in about 15 minutes. The lyrics are primarily of the sillier variety, as you could imagine from a title like "100 Beers With a Zombie", or "Spell It Out" which takes itself quite literally, but they often veer into a more depressing, slightly serious territory as in the self-derogatory "Failure". Musically, they're not out to waste your time, but simply trying to carve out another slice of the virile energy of the late 80s punk/thrash cross section. Granted, this also means you won't be hearing much of anything new in the riffs. Many of them sound wholly familiar, not only from the backlog of the constituents at play here, but through decades of the stuff all around the globe.

That isn't to say that Pasadena Napalm Division are incompetents, because they inject quite a lot of visceral energy into such basic components. Certainly, the 13 year old skateboard-drunk maniac within me finds something here that calls to the innocence of his soul, and the raw thrashing force of "Speaking in Tongues" and Spanish-tongued "Non Ti Amo" forced him out into a domestic circle pit, knocking over various piles of empty beer bottles, molded Thrasher mag subscriptions and labyrinths of unwound cassettes by Cryptic Slaughter, Bl'AST! and so forth. Deep immersion this is not, but then, that's never been the intent of this hybrid genre. P.N.D. is not home to a wide array of engrossing riffs, and I'd like to hear a full-length with better writing and more interesting note patterns, but the nature of this particular release is to force an ass kicking upon you as swiftly as possible with a carefree bluster, and that at least is on offer, even if your bottom won't remain sore for very long.

Verdict: Indifference [6.5/10]

http://www.pasadenanapalmdivision.com/

Children of Technology - It's Time to Face the Doomsday (2010)

Splayed out in leather, bullet belts, mohawks, mutton chops, vests, and more patches than you'd find at an open air headbanger festival, the Children of Technology cut a pretty unusual figure on the Italian scene. We've come to know the place for symphonic and progressive metal, with black and death scenes developing, but a nuclear splatter crossover band? That's news. Well, this unit have been busy in the past few years since their 2007 inception, producing a number of splits and singles, and it was only time until their novelty caught some attention, enabling them to release their full-length debut It's Time to Face the Doomsday on CD through Hell's Headbangers. To say that they belong on such a roster is merely an understatement, because there is really nothing about this record that reeks of anything post 1987...

Children of Technology do not hide their influences, in fact they tout them rather openly. The music is a mix of old school punk/hardcore and thrash, placing them somewhere among the rank and file of Discharge, (early) Corrosion of Conformity, Cro-Mags, D.R.I., The Accüsed, The Exploited, and Cryptic Slaughter. DeathLord Astolfi's vocals sound like a chain smoker with gravel down his throat, and I am reminded of both Snake's work on the early Voivod albums, and Chris Notaro from the cult legend Crumbsuckers' debut, Life of Dreams. This is a fairly difficult style to pull off, not because of any implicit complexity in the writing or performance, but to actually write songs that feel somewhat more than mere derivations of the many acts preceding them in the constituent genres. To this extent, I feel the Italians have at least succeeded where many others do not.

"New Enemies to Hunt" provides a nuclear inauguration, crass punk rhythms and gang shouts aplomb after the rock and roll setup, and you'll notice that the Children don't exactly rush through their material. This is one of the shorter tracks on the album at 2:43, about double the length written by many such acts, so there's something more substantial about it. They don't exactly front load the stronger songs though, and "It's Time to Face the Doomsday" and "No Man's Land" waltz by like toxic punks inhaling spray paint before we finally get to some more ass kicking riffs in the "Symptom of the Universe"-like "Racing Through the Valley of Death", the frenzied "No Fuel...No Hope!", the hardcore Armageddon of "Escape from the Danger Zone" and moodily introduced "Screams from the Earth", which summoned up delightful memories of the old Voivod albums I used to headbang through while my balls were still dropping.

As a definitive statement of European splatter punk thrash, It's Time to Face the Doomsday is more than adequate, though the initial few tracks are rather weak on the riffing, and there is nothing so atmospheric here beyond a nuclear strike siren or the propulsion of the band itself. Half of me feels like there is not a lot of room in crossover to innovate, but the other half reminds me that most bands don't even try. Children of Technology aren't writing outside of their major influences, and if anything, they play it rather safe. This is the kind of band I'd like to hear filthier, messier, and far more radioactive as they sing anthems to the end times and beyond, wasteland mutants hurling empty liquor bottles at graffiti strewn walls as they cook their enemies in oil drums for consumption. Considering the relatively young age of the project, I get the feeling there is plenty of room yet to carve out their place in the apocalypse.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

http://www.myspace.com/childrenoftechnology

Sacrilege - Beyond the Realms of Madness (1985)

England's Sacrilege were a fairly interesting band that sadly fell under the radars of many metal fans in the 80s. Notable for being one of the few British metal bands with a good female singer, they also made an interesting transition through their three albums, from an early crossover of speed/thrash with a steady punk influence, to a very laid back, unique brand of thrash/doom metal. Here on Beyond the Realms of Madness, the band played fast and filthy with a huge hardcore/punk influence, and combined with Tam Simpson's aggressive voice they felt like a hybrid of Znöwhite and Discharge. This debut was only 26 minutes long, with six tracks, but it provided more than enough energy for fist mashing and burning off your body fat in youthful anger, and I certainly recommend it to anyone seeking out old school punk, thrash, crossover, hardcore, you name it!

"Life Line" opens with a resounding ambient tone before the frothy pistons of its punk edge begin to hammer forward. In particular I love the second riff, a speed metal flurry that is easily the rival of bands like Acid, Détente, Holy Moses, or other female fronted classics. The track doesn't let up for 4 minutes, and the slower "Shadow from Mordor", which, in a strange maneuver, instantly removes you from the street and takes you into a fantasy metal realm, with evocative solos that lead into a faster paced, steady rocking rhythm worth tossing in any spiked gauntlet. "At Death's Door" is mean but not lean, 5 minutes of crushing metal which yet again fills out the punk roots into a pissed off metal angst. The extended breakdown at about 2:00 here is pretty great, with a trace of doom like progression as it pummels you repeatedly.

The land holds the hammer but mankind deals the blow
Economics and profit before compassion we show

The lyrics are fairly political, even "Shadow from Mordor", which again honors the thrash and hardcore tradition. "A Violation of Something Sacred" is another heavily punk-driven tune spitting more fumes than a rusted engine, and Tam's shouts likely had circle pits a-brewing and mohawks shaking in pubs all over the UK. "The Closing Irony" opens with the intonations of bells, and then a mid paced dirty thrashing riff and some swell leads. This is my single favorite song of the album, and I like that the bells return to sound off like a crunching pendulum. "Out of Sight Out of Mind" has some excellent, churning speed metal rhythms which sound like a napalm barnstorming, as it spits another round of core-fueled aesthetics and mosh-downs to top off the album.

One of the reasons I occasionally listen back to Beyond the Realms of Madness is the excellent tone of the album. It's raw and pissed off, no excess studio wash-job, and it has so much of that edge which modern hardcore and punk (and thrash) can rarely emulate in their endless fashion parade. This is a bruiser of an album, so if you have only heard Turn Back Trilobite and you're listening for the first time, you may be surprised, there is not a lot in common except for the same musicians. That being said, it's a little hard to compare to their later work, which evolves away from this sound. The Sacrilege of 1985 was almost a separate band entirely, but a good one, and if you like a mix-up of Discharge punk rhythms and Holy Moses speed metal, then I urge you to track it the debut down.

Highlights: Life Line, At Death's Door, The Closing Irony, Out of Sight Out of Mind

Verdict: Win [8/10] (cold concrete replaces warm soil)

http://www.myspace.com/uksacrilege

Creatures - I, Lucifer (2009)

Creatures is a crossover band from California who mix aggressive hardcore with riff-heavy thrash metal. They're a little less retro and goofy than other crossover bands (Municipal Waste, etc) and this is a welcome element. Their hardcore half is much more rooted in a 'tough guy' influence like Biohazard or Hatebreed (in particular the grooves and vocals) than punky embellishments, and it works rather well. I, Lucifer is their full-length debut, having previously released an EP and appeared on some comps and a split with Downpresser.

The band's forte here is the mean thrash riffing, as populates a track like "Decimate" or the excellent "Burden". It meshes seemlessly with their breakdowns, and the band's use of a counterpoint gang shout really works to bridge the urban aggression of their style with the pissed off lyrics. The album is brief (about 22 minutes) which is acceptable for this style. No time is wasted. The band kicks your ass for 10 tracks that generally 2 minutes or less (with the exception of "Illusive Faults").

The mix on I, Lucifer is suitable with its boxy, punchy guitars and gruff vocals. Your mileage with this record will depend on how you feel about crossover metal/hardcore, and whether or not you enjoy big hooks, and violent pit grooves. Though I rarely visit this style of music anymore (my relationship with it started and ended with D.R.I., Cryptic Slaughter, Crumbsuckers, Leeway, etc), I am happy to hear that there are a few bands out there doing right with it. Creatures is one of those bands.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

http://www.creatures.bigcartel.com/

Adrenicide - Natural Born Thrashers (2008)

Here is album number five from these UK crossover maniacs. With a sound reminiscent of D.R.I., Suicidal Tendencies, and a lot of the more straight razor US 80s thrash/speed metal acts, they sound like they're having a blast. I'd say they are a little less riff oriented than a Municipal Waste, but it's still that same, fun style.

There are 19 tracks, a pastiche of good old 80s thrash topics are covered in the lyrics. I am particularly enamored of "Hospital Hard-On", but mostly out of familiarity with the subject matter. Gang shouts, alcoholic lyrics, it's all here, so if you have a fetish for Gang Green, Tankard, and all the wild beer crazed thrash and punk of that amazing decade, you may really want to check this out.

I had a fun enough time listening once through the album once. The riffs and solos and energy are perfectly adequate for the style, but nothing is really memorable. However, if you just want a good time, or something to skate or shred to, and you're riding this recent nostalgic wave of crossover bands, then this is probably for you.

Verdict: Indifference [6/10] (hos pit al hard on)

http://www.myspace.com/adrenicide1