Brick Bath "Rebuilt" CD
[Crash]
Damn, this sounds almost like an entirely different band compared to their last record. Their debut sounded almost exactly like Exhorder/Pantera (but not as good), but this is a lot different. It's based heavily around tons of rhythmic grooves that at times show resemblances to the aforementioned bands with a little Meshuggah or Machine Head thrown in (as well as some more rocked out moments reminiscent of Black Label Society or whatever), but the vocals are now just throaty yells with a little bit of singing. The crazy thing is that they throw in some blazing melodic lead breaks and a few total thrash riffs as well. I'd almost think they've endured some lineup changes but I'm not sure. But all of this basically says to me that they're totally wasting their talent playing boring groovy crap 90% of the time. Because, in all honesty, this is a boring record. 14 songs is too many songs, and 46 minutes is too many minutes. Not that it matters, it would still be boring if there were only 10 songs and it was 30 minutes, but all the same... it's overkill. The recording is alright, but it needs work. The vocals sound pretty good, and the drums are nice and dense, but the guitars are muddy and have that overproduced chugga chugga thing going on, the bass isn't that audible, and there's a lot of separation in the mix. The lead guitars sound fucking awesome, though. If the bass were more dominant and the guitars a bit clearer without losing their heavy edge it would work better. I like the layout a hell of a lot more than their last record. The front cover has a weird little sculpture made from metal, light bulbs, and mannequin parts, but what I really like are the fonts and the dirty architectural textures used through the rest of the booklet. The band photo is laughable just because it's totally posed and the whole "band stands on different levels of a rusty old tower in an industrial area" thing is cheesy and overdone. They shouldn't have even used a band photo in this case. I don't like the lyrics either just because they're macho and overly simple in a goofy and not really amusing sort of way: "Step up, Knocked down, Fucked up, You're down, Face down pistol whipped, Feeling black and blue, Should have recognized, You piece of shit I was true, Bring in the pain, Such pain that you never knew, I'd be very afraid..." This just isn't my thing. This is the kind of stuff that foot-stomping, headbanging, air-drumming redneck metalheads would probably love. It's cool that they're shooting for something slightly more original now, but shit, I liked their last record better, when they were totally ripping off someone else's style. This isn't an unprofessional effort, it's just bland and unnecessary. If they'd cut the shit they could make a great thrash band, but that ain't gonna happen. (4/10)
Running time - 46:21, Tracks: 14
[Notable tracks: I don't know, none of them really jump out at me]
Crash Music - http://www.crashmusicinc.com

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