Local Review: BARBARIAN FAITH HEALER – AMERICARNAGE

BARBARIAN FAITH HEALER
AMERICARNAGE
Drakula Dolphin
Street: 05.26
BARBARIAN FAITH HEALER = ARCHAIC FUTURISTS + Throw Away Your Books, Rally In The Streets x GG Allin

God Bless America (minus the B). In a country where pride see-saws with extremism, loyalty comes with a price and self-worth is just an up-scroll away, American politics have enough madness to match. The Oohs and Ahhs of the presidential campaign trail was once an honorable display of democracy at work. Nowadays, especially in the last two decades, it has devolved into a televised schlock of picking between two evils. As two elderly men fight for palm-fed delusions for our nation, it’s only the people themselves that bite it in the end. However, what happens when your voters are hellbent on keeping a wildcard candidate in the running? One who’s past actions and transactions have left a country in shambles? This type of madness can only be expressed through a deviant, experimental style of rock known as Deathbreak! BARBARIAN FAITH HEALER, the Satanic originators of the genre, attempt to wrangle the Donald Trump election and grab it by the nuclear-wasted, genetically-modified, apple pie-flavored balls.

When Drakula Dolphin personally reached out to me to review AMERICARNAGE, I tip-toed around it like a live landmine. The cover artwork alone goes hard, but is edgily scratchy for shock value, with bodies hanging from the White House’s top balcony, drone strikes, faces melting and Jesus Christ. I could see Solomon “Cat Killer” from Gummo carving these crazed images into his classroom desk. Yet, with the anarchist look at American politics with some well-deserved yet brutal satire, I was slightly intrigued. And since Independence Day has come and gone, I thought it was fitting before July was up. 

The entire album is a mentally-draining drawl of brain rot. Its title track intersplices clips and phrases from Trump’s campaign coverage, all slowed down and reverbed to hell and back. Sounds may mimic heavy metal guitar drags and crater-landing blows to the drum kit, but when colliding together, it’s hard to pick out. They might have possibly ripped the rag doll sound effect from Gary’s MOD for more of a robotic percussion sound. There will then be a tape recorder rewind to a swampy Gibson chug almost reminiscent of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama” only to blow out any cheap pair of earbuds it connects to. You can also get a quick chuckle from the beginning line, as Trump’s New York drunkard vernacular says “this American carnage will stops right here and stops right now.”  

Would you like a little more substance? Well, that’s pretty much it. Each track (if I can’t even describe them as that)  plays out as a copy of a copy—all that changes are the sound bites that play in between. Tracks “AMERICA’S MOST DANGEROUS CULT” and “RELIGIOUS FREEDUMB” trim out quotes from Trump supporters that border on lunacy. “MISSISSIPPI MUD” and “WHITE PRIVILEGE / WHITE POWER” call out the hypocrisy and racist sentiments of his supporters. Although these quotes are lines that could be pulled from a neo-political dystopian novel, they really don’t mesh well with the music (or lack thereof). This hour long Adrenochrome trip into the misguided bad apples of conservatism and liberalism makes my body ache. I’ve never listened to an album that made me physically hurt…until now.

In the simplest of terms and shortest of definitions, the American Dream is dead. Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness becomes harder to obtain while a government that promised so much to its nation failed to deliver. Furthermore, it would take a goddamn effort to find a peaceful middle ground between each party. If this is the type of dilemma BARBARIAN FAITH HEALER tried to express, maybe dive a bit deeper. Take more time in the studio instead of shitposting gobbledygook…or perhaps that’s the point. The country is a mess—one big audible roar that distorts the senses and makes you uneasy about who will be running the free world. The chaos of hyper supporters and unbelievably embarrassing moments could be analyzed in US history classes for centuries to come. If that’s the case, then maybe this band is on to something. However, whatever side you see yourself on the political spectrum, AMERICARNAGE is a rough listen. Now, if you’d excuse me, I’m going to retreat back to my bunker and weigh out the megaton blast coming in November. 

P.S. To BARBARIAN FAITH HEALER and all the other musicians under the Drakula Dolphin label: I love reviewing your music, but pretty please with sugar on top, chill the fuck out with the caps lock! —Alton Barnhart

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