Agoraphobic Nosebleed "Altered States of America" CD
[Relapse]
Who else but Agoraphobic Nosebleed would dare try to fit 100 songs onto a 3" CD EP? No one. Fucking no one. But they did it. You have to fast forward backwards from the first track to get to the real first track, "Wonder Drug Wonderland", but they did it. There are many, many, many songs that run less than 10 seconds long, but they did it. And it's pretty damn good, too. I can't say it's their best work, but it's certainly not a weak effort. And you get what you'd expect: Insane, blasting drum machine grindcore with plenty of thrash and death metal riffs thrown into the mix alongside quirky experimental noise, samples, and chaotic textures on occasion. They're definitely getting a bit more intricate and complex in the guitar department from time to time, even if the songs are obscenely short. I must say though, I think they cheated to pull off the whole "100 songs" thing, as many of the tracks run together and create larger pieces anyway, so even though there are 100 tracks separated out on the disc, it's a huge stretch to say there are actually 100 separate songs. This is proved by the fact that at times large numbers of "songs" are grouped together under headings in the tracklist, further suggesting that the brief tracks technically make up larger songs such as "Free Shoko Asahara", "The Twelve Days of Sodom", "Altered States of America", and "Gays and Gay Bashers Holding Each Others' Dicks Crying". But whatever, 100 songs, five songs, one song, it's good either way. As for the recording, it could be better. The biggest annoyance is that drum machines are usually way too loud, especially when they're really fast and intense. I'm almost starting to wish they'd get a live drummer to try it out just once. But the vocals sound great and are mixed in perfectly against the guitars, which sound crisp and heavy but somehow rugged at the same time. Those machines really need to drop back in the mix, though. The layout rules. The booklet is thick with tons of killer illustrated artwork, lots of obnoxiously bright pastel colors (in a fitting way), band photos where everyone has vaginas and assholes for eyes/mouths (that shit looks fucked up), and a couple of images of, yes, drugs... Some of the headings for groups of songs are listed in the booklet but not on the traycard for some odd reason, but it's not like it matters... can you really keep track of 100 songs in about 20 minutes!? Shockingly enough they do include the (not shockingly) brief lyrics for those tracks that contain them. Just check out some of these one-line winners... "Eye grows huge dick and fucks snake." "Ass jocks suck off Boston hardcore." "If your ass is in this house it's my ass." "Kick the shit out of you." Get the point? And that's just barely scraping the surface! I'll say this: I can't remember ever being truly let down by these guys... (7/10)
Running time - 20:57, Tracks: 100
[Notable tracks: Wonder Drug Wonderland, Spreading the Dis-ease, Freeze-Dried Cemetery, Guided Tour, all of the "songs" that make up "Free Shoko Asahara", Watching a Clown Point a Gun at a Small Dog (Reprise), Mosquito Holding Human Cattle Prod, Unprecedented Experiment, ]
Relapse Records - http://www.relapse.com

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