Holier Than Thou? "The Riviera Sessions" CD
[Deranged]
This is the first time I've ever heard this band, so I had no idea what to expect other than hardcore, but this is good stuff. Crazy hardcore/punk with a classic west coast sort of vibe, a little bit of rock, and then some thrash metal crossover influences in tracks like the ripping mastery of "The Hermit". There's a fucking awesome break in "Metal Wounds" where samples of Ozzy in "Crazy Train" fade over to the vocalist mimicking the line... totally wild. Midway through the disc they drop a cover of Motörhead's "Sex & Death" where the vocals are a little closer to Lemmy's rasp, but other than that I can hear influences reminiscent of everyone from The Accused (notably in "50 Ways to Lose Your Liver") to Nuclear Assault to Cryptic Slaughter. The CD contains the tracks from their one-sided 12" EP, "High on Barbecue", and their European tour 7". Nine songs in less than 20 minutes. The recording is pretty damn good on these songs as well. A few tracks are slightly quieter and not as bright, but overall it sounds great. Crisp drumming, a great bass presence, a perfect guitar tone, a solid vocal mix, etc. It sort of sounds like a classic thrash or crossover record from the late-80's, because it's slightly raw, but excellent for what they're doing. The layout's simple, if not a tad strange. The booklet is red with black text and a shitload of little photos of the band in the studio, and the traycard is black and white with handwritten text for the tracklist and all that stuff. That's it. No lyrics or anything like that. It's pretty minimal. Good stuff. A few of the songs aren't that exciting, but at their best this band totally shreds and brings back fond memories... so you can't fault that at all. (7/10)
Running time - 17:16, Tracks: 9
[Notable tracks: The Hermit, Pacify, HTTZ]
Deranged Records - http://www.derangedrecords.com

This review has been displayed 1499 times.