Hubris is defined as excessive pride or self confidence, or as another word for arrogance. This is a really pissed off record, so I'm going to just go out on a limb and guess that anger is directed against those who act with hubris. I mean, you've a got a lyric that goes “You don't deserve to fucking live”, you've got song titles like “This Is Why I Hate” and “Rage And Retribution”, which don't exactly bring to mind visions of Snow White charming the forest animals into helping clean the seven dwarves' hovel. This is “I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it” kind of stuff. And it works really fucking good.
The music here is thrashy, with some death metal-esque flourishes, and it is not any of that horribly imitative new wave of thrash that has been going around for a few years now. These guys have something to say and they want to make damn sure you hear it. I really dig how some of these songs are all about the flat out speed, like “Time Devours Life”, and “Pearls Before Swine”, while others have some swing and swagger to them. “Anger Is The Reason” is definitely one of those and one of my faves on the album. As an added bonus, see if you can spot the nod to “War Pigs” in the intro of the song. Overall the songs are very well crafted with definite beginnings and middles and endings. That may seem like a trite comment, but listen to as much of this stuff as I do and you will realize that good songwriting should never be taken for granted and always complimented. There are 14 tracks here, which usually will lead me to make some snarky comment about the album being too long, but not on this one. Yes sir, may I have another indeed.
Were you ever a fan of Abattoir? There is a track on this album that is basically an Abattoir reunion in a nice, tidy, three minutes and probably the only reunion of said band there will ever be. Lots of guest appearances on this one, as pointed out by the press release, although to be honest, I haven't really heard of any of the folks mentioned. Not to imply that just because I don't know them means they made lousy contributions or anything. As I believe I stated above, this release really kicks some ass, so good on everyone who stepped in and played any part on putting this thing together.
Two other things to which I really want to tip my cap. The singer does a fantastic job throughout this release. I'd give him credit by name but I can't seem to find anything that tells who does what, just names of band members. He has a vocal style that really lends itself well to this music, and he can growl, howl and shriek when needed, but also can sound a lot like Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden fame at times, which is always a great thing in my book. The guitar tones on this recording are also top notch, which is a big part of thrash and so important to get right. And so they did.
This is a very solid album and one of the better thrash offerings I've heard in a while. By the time you read this it will be out and available for your purchasing pleasure, so you should probably go get yer mitts on this one.
- ODIN
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