Toxic Bonkers "Seeds of Cruelty" CD
[Selfmadegod]
Never would I expect such a serious and aggressive CD from a band with such a stupid name (I can't help but comment on it), but this Polish act drops a little over a half-hour of churning midpaced material that's sort of like groovy new school thrash meets straightforward metalcore. I would've thought it would be fast and humorous grindcore, but instead think Biohazard circa "Urban Discipline" meets Sepultura's "Chaos A.D." with bits and pieces of Napalm Death around the time of "Fear, Emptiness, Despair" involved (the end result doesn't sound all that close to any of these bands on a literal level though, these are just musical reference points). Most of the songs are fairly slow and have lots of thick chord progressions, occasionally venturing into a few faster picking patterns or hardcore/punk riffing, all with gruffly barked vocals. "Homeless" has a few little dissonant bits that are quite cool, "TV God" is more of NYHC sounding track during its faster moments, "Liars" brings back a little more of the discordance and slight speed increases for another of the more memorable pieces, and so on. There's not a large amount of variety throughout the disc, which is one of its pitfalls since the quality of the songwriting comes and goes, but that's life. The production is alright. It works fine. I think it needs a little extra push forward, but I'm not totally sure what I'd specifically change. Nothing sounds all that bad, yet everything could use some polishing up around the edges. The mix is pretty good though, maybe the drums dominate a little much, but the slow tempos kind of keep that issue in check. I'm not big on the layout. It's somewhat consistent (the inner pages are at least) and crisp as far as legibility, but the cover is a little bland, the back cover looks nice but unlike anything else, etc. Not bad, but it needs work. The lyrics are pretty common in exploring topics of capitalism and greed, the media, fear and despair, war, etc. There's a definite mix of personal and political content, but nothing overly specific or pointed. This is a decent listen. I think it's too one-sided to really hit me, though. There are some cool songs, but the groove factor gets a little tiresome at times, and the vocal delivery can come off as straine. I'd like to hear a little more speed, preferably in the form of the traditional hardcore chord progressions, but this isn't so bad. It has its moments, it just needs a little something more to win me over. (6/10)
Running time - 31:49, Tracks: 11
[Notable tracks: Homeless, TV God, Liars]
Selfmadegod Records - http://www.selfmadegod.com

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