| With members that have seen days with other major bands (Eyehategod, Pantera, Super Joint Ritual
etc), I was fascinated to find out what kind of style the band would adopt. I didn't think it
would
be a southern hardcore project but I'll roll with that. This new self titled album apparently was
recorded back in 2006 but was held on to be released in early 2008. Let's check out these eight
tracks.
What followed was some of the most hilarious music I'd heard in recent memory, (not good for Arson
Anthem). Not only is this a spastic hardcore riot that sounds like a high school grindcore band,
but the production sounds like garage band put it together in a few days. There are a few parts
where the guitars and drums don't spaz out (not very often), and during those lighter sessions we
are able to see something at the end of this tunnel worth putting ears to the speaker for. Most of the time however this is a muddle of rushed confusion.
Another problem is simply how short this "effort" is. There are 8 songs and none of them hit 2
minutes, leaving for a very short encounter. If you love this raging out of control mess then you
will wish there was more. If you like melody and hate this untamed wild set of speedy/awkward
guitars and shouting dumb vocals, then you will be happy to see this end early.
There are ways to make hardcore (even very furious hardcore), but the insanity that this
self-titled presents is so blood thirsty, that it doesn't think and dashes into your ears head
first to pound out a few quick songs that are all over the place. The silver lining in this album
is thin and comes when Arson Anthem takes a second and gathers a slightly slower section so we can
enjoy this hardcore, but sadly these parts are few and far between leaving me wishing I hadn't
put this in my stereo.
~ Derek
December 26 2007 |
