For all the metal that I’ve had the pleasure of listening to
\nover the last few years, there has been one thing that occasionally
\nbugs me about the genre these days. Some bands, especially those in
\nthe grindcore genre, make it a point to make the vocals so garbled
\nthat even the lyric sheet won’t help you figure out what the hell
\nthey’re saying. It’s almost as if the microphone has been jammed
\ndown the singer’s throat, and are then told, “Okay, let ‘er
\nrip!”<\/p>\n
Then I get to Six Feet Under and their latest release
\nMaximum Violence<\/i>. Singer Chris Barnes has the grindcore
\nvocals down pat, as if he gargled with drain cleaner before
\nentering the studio. But there’s two main differences with this
\nband: Barnes makes sure you can understand the messages he has to
\ndeliver, and this band is one that refuses to be lumped into any
\nmere classification of their music.<\/p>\n
Sx Feet Under – Barnes, guitarist Steve Swanson, bassist Terry
\nButler and drummer Greg Gall – show early and often that they are a
\nversatile group, often changing tempos several times in the course
\nof one song. Such acrobatics might seem to be confusing for the
\nlistener, but in reality, it’s made to sound as natural as shifting
\ngears on your car.<\/p>\n
Some of the content on
\nMaximum Violence<\/i> reminds me of bands like Carcass; tracks
\nlike “Bonesaw” are definitely not for the squeamish. Then again, if
\nyou’re easily offended, chances are you’re not listening to this
\nkind of metal in the first place.<\/p>\n
What makes
\nMaximum Carnage<\/i> such an enjoyable album is not only the
\nmusical and vocal crispness, but its musical power… and, frankly,
\nit’s a fun album to listen to. Tracks like “Victim Of The
\nParanoid,” “Mass Murder Rampage” and “War Machine” all show how
\nenjoyable this kind of metal can be for fans of the genre.<\/p>\n
Ah, but I said this band defies classification, didn’t I? Well,
\nthey’re not simply grindcore, because they don’t always play at
\naccelerated tempos. They’re not speed metal, because they vary the
\ntempos of their songs a lot. They’re not simply death metal,
\nbecause there seems to be more to their music than the traditional
\ndeath metal that I’ve heard of late. (Granted, Six Feet Under is
\nclosest to death metal than anything; if you go into this album
\nthinking you’re gonna hear love songs, you’ll be running for the
\nexits quickly.)<\/p>\n
What impresses me about
\nMaximum Violence<\/i> is that Six Feet Under not only create a
\ncrisp, clean sound for their music, but that they maintain a high
\nlevel of excellence throughout the course of the album (which, at
\n37 minutes, is relatively short). This isn’t the album to have out
\nwhen Grandma and Grandpa come over for Saturday dinner, but it is a
\ngreat one to crank up with the headphones.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27900,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6454],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-39288","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-six-feet-under","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39288\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39288"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}