BOLT THROWER.

Simply put, this is a masterpiece album that mixes the best of fast & heavy.

A total juggernaut of brutality, 23 years later it's still hard to beat.
Downtuned beyond downtuned, but with a sense of purpose, the riffs on this thing are top-notch.

Doom-laden & heavy, this record sounds like you're stuck in a giant, cavernous sewer pipe w/ the almighty Bolt Thrower pummeling you w/ their chaotic rock mastery from the other end; the double bass (just a bit behind) teamed with the thunder-thump bass lines of one Jo Bench the whole time creating an uneasiness that feels just right...

Bolt Thrower - Realm of Chaos (Slaves to Darkness)

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TROUBLE.

This record came out at the right / wrong time…

In 1990, I was in the throws of some old-school American Hardcore hangover, trying not to fall into the newfangled "grunge thing" - (TAD ruled) - and then THIS RECORD showed up.
Fuckin' Xtian hippies into Sabbath? Huh?

In the end, they are just a fuckin' killer band who enjoyed getting fucked up & weren't really Xtian band at all.
Politics aside, this band was an anomaly for ANY scene at the time.
Still a weekly go-to record for me.

Why this record is not easier to find is beyond me - Rick Wartell & Bruce Franklin could possibly be one of the most under-the-radar guitar-slingin' bad-ass rock duos out there. Seriously, not a filler riff on this slab at all - the Rick Rubin production - just like on Slayer's 'South of Heaven" *ahem* "re-invented their sound" - and there is not a note wasted here. Sound-wise it's a time bomb; with the fat fucking mix, etc.

Get your Black Shape of Doom on already, willya?

Trouble - Trouble

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☞ Last post until 4/20 at least - (off to Hawaii for a week). Fuck yes. ☜