BLACK BREATH

Razor to Oblivion

Southern Lord

8 / 10

Track listing:

01. Razor to oblivion
02. Fatal Error
03. Beneath the Crust
04. Murder

The rage! The fury! The spirit! The bloodshed! Good goat almighty, these are among the many references to high energy ass-whippings and community flesh melts that popped into the noggin during several earsplitting listening sessions with "Razor to Oblivion" from Seattle's BLACK BREATH. Originally released as a vinyl 12" on Hot Mass Records, Southern Lord's Greg Anderson picked himself up and dusted himself off after the initial shock and distributed the LP, as well as making the CD version an official release on his revered label.

Violent, metal-edged hardcore and razor punk are melted down and hardened into a canon ball that is shot right through your living room window, taking you out in the process, and that's just during the MOTÖRHEAD-birthed riffing, gnarly Greg Ginn-like leads, and BLACK FLAG locomotion of the opening title track. Repeat that scenario three more times and you've got "Razor to Oblivion". These boys mean business and the EP will not only decimate, but also incinerate, popular conceptions of what ripping it the fuck out is all about. The album is filled with those kinds of full frontal assaults, ones inclusive of a guitar tone that will raise every hair on your head. The arrangement breaks alone will put cricks in the neck, as you'll note when the blazing riff from "Fatal Error" reappears in all its naked glory just before one last speed romp takes the song on home. Then there is the thrash/crossover riff of "Beneath the Crust" (which should have been titled "Beneath the Crush") that turns to a pummeling grind that is equivalent to shaving in the morning with a belt sander. And let's not risk frightening the children with the musical story of "Murder".

"Razor to Oblivion" is the sound of viciousness, pure and simple. God helps us all if we get a full-length album's worth of material with the same consistency and unhinged raged as the EP. Disaster drills performed in full riot gear accompanied by the music of DISCHARGE and DOOMRIDERS will be mandatory for the preparation phase alone.

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