Rhode Island's Dropdead starts out by tearing through six tracks of raging hardcore in barely over five minutes. It's raw, it's fast, the vocals are blistering distorted screams... yeah, this is good stuff. Honestly I've never been a big fan of this band, and when I saw them live years ago they bored the shit out of me, but I can get into this. I definitely prefer it when they slow things down (the blasting speeds of "At the End of Days" get on my nerves, but as soon as they drop back on the pace they start to crush). I'm pleasantly surprised by this. The tracks are powerful and energetic, and there's no bullshit. They cut straight to it. The recording is rough but it suits them well. I also dig the bitter attitude of the lyrics, which are ragingly political with a dark edge to them: "As we embrace extinction with arms of ignorance, The skeleton of reason lies cold within the ash, And innocence has fallen to the age of parricide, As the infant consumes the mother in its arrogant pride, When then bounty of the harvest becomes poisoned through the blood, The final feast will then begin and the end of days will come." Very nice. Sweden's longstanding Totalit?r kicks out three tracks in about four minutes, and as one might expect it's that traditional Scandinavian spin on Discharge. It's definitely not the most interesting stuff I've heard in this vein, but it holds its own I suppose. The recording is a little bit ragged. There are some holes in the mix due to a lack of bass and a weird guitar tone, but it's alright. I'd just turn the vocals down. Here the lyrics are all in Swedish with English translations, dealing mainly with personal observation and that sort of thing, with a subtle political undercurrent at times. The layout is really basic but it gets the job done. There are lots of images of skulls and barren high contrast textures with some metallic silver ink on the outer booklet. Inside both pages look identical except for the text that they include (lyrics, recording and contact information, that sort of stuff). This release is also available as a 7", and I'd have to say that's probably the best format for it. Personally, I rarely give CD's that run less than 10 minutes a spin, so... use your best judgment on that one. Dropdead definitely steals the show here. I'm thinking that I need to pick up some of their other material now.
[Prank]
Running time - 9:04, Tracks: 9
[Notable tracks: A Disease Called Man, Scream at the Wall, Du ?r Status Du]
Prank Records - http://www.prankrecords.com
