Behead The LambI have been anticipating this release since Chris from Trip Machine told me he would be releasing a death metal project that features drummer Jesse Sutherland and guitarist Jose Segarra, both of which have spent time in All Out War and Nerve Gas Tragedy. The rest of the spots are filled out by Lionel Johnson (vocals) and Josh Sutherland (bass). Later after the recording of this EP the band added Taras Apuzzo (also a member of AOW/NGT) on second guitar to help fill out the band's sound.
As soon as I got my hands on this fucker I popped it on. While listening I had visions of baby murder and whores getting disemboweled. And I am certainly not talking about that pussy ass baby murder, I'm talking about grabbing a hammer, impaling it into the baby's skull and pulling that shit apart with your hands. But enough about whore disembowelment and baby slaying, let's get to the real issue at hand here.
What we have here is six blistering tracks of death metal that draws parallels to the stuff that was coming out during the early 90's. You know, shit like Carcass, Bolt Thrower, Morbid Angel, and the oh-so amazing Obituary. And it's important to note that it is literally impossible to get bored with any of the songs, let alone the EP. Most of the songs are below 3 minutes, with the opening track being the exception.
Just by the band members included and the title of the album, "Messiahlation" you should already have a pretty good idea of what the lyrics are about or what they aren't about.
Like other AOW/NGT releases, they decided to stay within their state to record. This time they found their way to Sweet Spot Studios and it paid off. The guitar tone is so meaty you could almost be fooled into thinking there are two guitarists. The drums and bass blend very well together and the bass drum sounds heavy as shit without sounding unnatural and triggered. The vocals have good levels in the mix. And the mastering that was done by Bill Henderson over at Azimuth Mastering brought the heaviness out that much more.
The rotting lamb's head on the front cover was done by Corey Scoolidge, a tattoo artist from NY, and as you can see (or can't see because you're blind) from the picture in the corner of the review, it's quite awesome. The awesomeness ends there with the layout though. The booklet is a simple two page foldout with the lyrics printed with a red font over a black background with the band's logo in the middle. The disc is pretty simple as well, just a regular silver CD with black screen-printing. It must've have been the band's layout concept because from the other releases I have received from both labels have always been of the utmost quality. But I have a sneaking suspicion that these guys went down the cheaper route for the labels because it sure isn't cheap to press a CD.
Rating: 4.5/5
Songs Worthy of Replay: "My Father's Hands" & "With The Worms"
Synopsis: If you like All Out War, buy this, if you like Nerve Gas Tragedy buy this, if you like death metal, buy this. This is a release that has garnered many plays from me and will continue to do so. This isn't one of those CD's where I'll review it and not listen to it again for awhile, this is some shit I will go listen to when I go smoke some weed later. I just wish Taras was there when they recorded but hey hopefully there's another release!
As I always say, check out the links and be the judge for yourself
Behead The Lamb MySpace
Trip Machine Labs Website
Glacial Records MySpace