by Martin Popoff
Dismember - Hate Campaign
(Nuclear Blast)Culling the band's best attributes, Hate Campaign is quintessential Dismember, cranked up to At The Gates-like tempos much of the time, bog-blasted with the band's tumbled and rumbled guitar sound, and finally, rife with both riffs and solos which clutch at the heartstrings of arcane Maiden through the latter '80s and early '90s. Production values are curious and eccentric as usual, but this time, with no major error-like distractions, accessible with respect to the bass, drums and vocals, but clawed and bloody when it comes to those aweful and awe-inspring guitars (sorta reminds me of someone smoking through one of thsoe holes in the throat). Compositionally, it's a well-mapped presentation, a little more complicated than usual but still stuffed with good ãdeath rockä melodies. Perhaps all 'round, the most useful Dismember album, and this from a catalogue which is generally pretty well-hung, despite metal purists' catcalls about the band being a mere alternative to Entombed (something quite desireable at this point).
Rating 8.5Junkyard - We're Trying To Practice!
(Smart/Cleopatra)Well I certainly prefer this to the label's usual practice of tribute albums or bands re-recording their hits, this one capturing one of the lesser Gunners of the day live at The Palace in Hollywood '89. Junkyard were never more than a Great White Americanized AC/DC synthetic, y'know, flammable and itchy, nothing you would put on a baby. Here the band churn out their fully linear, vaguely southernish fare (the band backed Skynryd on a tour, even penning their own Simple Man, which of course comes out sounding like Sweet Child O' Mine). But the fidelity is first-rate, and David Roach's raps capture the spirit of the era well. Ends with a trashy Tush, the song on which a third of the band's songs are based.
Rating 6