Wednesday, July 28, 2010

BRAIN DRILL – Quantum Catastrophe CD review


BRAIN DRILL – Quantum Catastrophe CD
Metal Blade Records

If you ask any of my friends, the ones I consume copious amounts of alcohol with, they will tell you I’m a fair man when it comes to my opinions on metal genres and the bands within them. I’m also well balanced after consuming copious amounts of alcohol just ask the North Carolina Highway Patrol. But for a while now Metal Blade Records thinks I’m neither and hates me for my reviews of their releases. I believe it goes back to that scathing review I did for their JOB FOR A COWBOY release. I had compared Metal Blade to a street corner drug dealer but instead of peddling crack they were pushing this A.D.D. metal on unsuspecting kids. Suffice it to say I added this band’s last release, Apocalyptic Feasting from 2008, to their stash of cheap tech death metal which they also unleashed on their prey. Hey don’t get me wrong Metal Blade is a great label who helped create and supported the Extreme Metal music scene. I’ve got plenty of their original releases and you’ve got the reissues and those best of box sets. But let’s be honest here, of late they’ve released some stuff that’s geared for the video gamers sect who have the reflexes of birds and the attention spans to match. It’s not death metal anymore it’s just an annoyance.

You wanna know what this new BRAIN DRILL release sounds like? Turn your radio on and turn the dial as fast as you can, flipping through the stations. I’ll be honest; Dylan Ruskin is an amazing guitarist who can poke through your ear drums with a searing solo and sweep an arpeggio with the best of em. But even within the tech death genre there’s a thing called over doing it. Maybe that’s why his drummer and bass player from their last release hit the road. They couldn’t keep up with him. Although the grunter, Steve Rathjen, stuck around just to keep things “brootal dude”. The newer members, Ron Casey on drums and bassist Ivan Muguia are easily extensions of Ruskin’s maniacal vision to kill everything that flies through the air with their continuous sonically practice soloing. There was just a loud thud against the side of my house. I think it was a bird so I’d better turn the volume down. Guess what, that’s when BRAIN DRILL actually sounds decent. When they get off the soloing showmanship and actually play some fuckin brutal death metal. But it’s too few and far between and the Ritalin addict will probably skip over to the next soloing ecstasy. There’s brutal death metal and there’s tech death, both genres have some decent bands who have defined excellence in their respected areas. I have yet to hear one that combines the two, along with adding some grindcore for extra kick, which has been able to stand the patience of a non addict. Pardon me but something actually brutal from Sevared Records is calling.

www.metalblade.com

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