Written In Blood: Hard Music for a Hard World

AAARRGH!! What’s going on with the live shows in Salt Lake? Not that I’m keeping track or anything, but recently Grip Inc. and Morbid Angel have joined the ranks of great bands that have crapped out on their Salt Lake fans. Apparently, the drummer of Morbid Angel wasn’t happy with the size of the stage at the Bar and Grill so the band decided to cancel their August 16th show. Boo Hoo. According to Chris at the bar, Grip Inc. followed suit. I didn’t stay for what else went on that night, but bravo to Wicked Innocence and the other two bands for playing. At least Grip Inc. and Morbid Angel are in good company. Fleshold, Grave, The Organization, Souls At Zero, Noize Fest, and Malevolent Creation have all canceled recent shows. Then there’s Forbidden, they have gone a step further and blown their last two shows. Something has to change, because this is starting to suck! 

Brujeria
Raza Odiada
Roadrunner Records 

Mexico’s Brujeria have just released their second album. Raza Odiada is their weapon, which is aimed at all of their enemies around the world. Supposedly, the band has gained the respect of the Colombian Medellin Drug Cartel with their involvement in the drug underworld. The bio also boasts other outlandish claims such as the band being on the run from the FBI, and that they are in possession of the Simpson murder weapon. I guess anything’s possible. Lyrics on this release deal with killing off those in their way, their involvement in political assassinations, smuggling immigrants across the Mexican border, and even one song denouncing the Menendez brothers for their parental murder spree. I had to read the band’s bio to know what the subject matter of the songs were, being that all of the lyrics are sung in Spanish. I failed that class miserably in high school, so expect for the word “si,”I was pretty lost. The music is every bit as brutal as the lyrics. The band combines grind and death, and then adds the Brujeria touch to come up with something quite unique. 

Shank 456
The Big Payback
Roadrunner Records 

The Big Payback  is Shank 456’s latest, and first offering on the Roadrunner label. Shank 456, formerly known as Creeper, were formed in 1990. The Big Payback  is filled with wall to wall guitar fueled grooves. The music is going to sit somewhere in between industrial, metal and hardcore. Lyrically, Shank 456 has taken on the plight of the imprisoned. The band’s name even comes out of prison. The word “shank” is a slang term for a crude hand-made weapon used as self defense in the slammer. Many of the songs parallel the lives of those living behind bars and others living imprisoned in their everyday life. The music is tight, heavy and angry enough to keep up with the subject matter of the songs.  

Flotsam and Jetsam
Drift
MCA 

I’ve followed Flotsam and Jetsam’s career since their 1988 release of No Place For Disgrace. I’ve been mostly a silent observer, always bought their albums, but was never really a big fan. That is until now. DRIFT, their fifth album, is their strongest ever. Everything seems to have come together for the band.The song-writing is much better, and the overall sound has improved. The singer Erick AK has, in my opinion, one of the strongest voices in metal. The voice comes from a very unlikely source. Unless he’s gained weight since the last time I saw the band, the singer is about as gaunt as a scarecrow. This release is crunching and melodic. There’s something on this on for the whole family. Maybe because of this release, Flotsam and Jetsam will get the recognition they are so greatly deserve. Get my DRIFT? 

Earth Crisis
Destroy The Machines
Victory Records 

Earth Crisis’s latest release Destroy The Machines  is filled with enough crunching riffs and tempo changes to fill two or three albums. These guys are absolute riff monsters. Scott Crouse and Kris Wiechmannn, both guitarists for the band, use the E-chord crunch to their fullest advantage. Karl Buechner (vocals) sounds like he came straight out of the Henry Rollin’s school of singing. His pissed off style of yell fits nicely over the wall of rhythm provided by the rest of the band. I’m just going with a feeling on this, but it sounds to me like these guys have an origin based in hardcore. I can’t be for sure on that, being that mister editor lost the bio well before it ever got into my grubby paws. Who cares anyways? I don’t need no stinking bio to tell you Earth Crisis’s, Destroy The Machines kicks some serious tuckus. 

Testament
Live At The Fillmore
Burnt Offerings 

Testament are back following the release of their album Low, which appeared on Atlantic Records. The band’s latest, Live At The Fillmore, was released by the band itself on their newly set up Burnt Offerings Incorporated label. The live show that was recorded features new and old songs from their ten year career. The band also added “Testament unplugged” versions of “Return to Serenity,” “The Legacy,” and “Trail of Tears.” Testament started to lose me on their half-limp release THE RITUAL. Lead guitarist Alex Skolnick left Testament after THE RITUAL and all seemed totally lost. Then, the band acquired death metal guitar great James Murphy and things started to look up. Murphy was an original member of Death and then later went on to form his own band Disincarnate. Testament upped the octane on Low, and will hopefully do the same on their next studio release. Until then, check out their live set on Live At The Fillmore. –Forgach

Read more from the SLUG Archives:
The Stiff Sheet: September 1995
The Ramones: September 1995