BRUTAL TRUTH

Hard to believe it's been twelve years since BRUTAL TRUTH released the breakthrough "Sounds Of The Animal Kingdom". In retrospect though, it seems that absence can make the heart grind harder as "Evolution Through Revolution" is as chaotically creative as anything extreme metal has to offer. Never ones to start a new in the same place they left the last one; this newest offering of unhinged insanity suggests that the band continued to evolve as a whole, even if its members were separate. Then again, maybe they never broke up. Maybe they were just taking a rrrreeeaaalllyyy long bong break. Anyway, no matter what the deal was over the last decade, BRUTAL TRUTH is back and the world just became a much cooler place to live.

Drafted by bassist Dan Lilker from the NUCLEAR ASSAULT, new guitarist Erik Burke brings a whole new brand of dementia to the band with his grating, yet discernable tone and ear-bleeding servings of feedback. It's a wonder the dude doesn't burn the wood right off of his guitar's neck as shreds through "Powder Burn", "Sugar Daddy" and the title track like an eight-fingered freak. His penchant for perfectly twisted anti-melody gives the as-far-left-from-center chording on the ADHD anthem "Attack Dog" an almost aesthetically pleasing aura. Seemingly impossible tempo shifts on songs like "Humpty Finance" and "Afterworld" are good for a Linda Blair-style headspinning, while "Daydreamer", and to some extent "Itch", deliver a solidly death metal beatdown. Then again, BRUTAL TRUTH has never been afraid to venture well outside their grindcore neighborhood, and "Evolution Through Revolution" is no exception. Given Rich Hoak's explorations in ambience and drive to redefine on the newest TOTAL FUCKING DESTRUCTION, it's no surprise that the band violently smashes through the walls that lead to doom, sludge, noisy experimentation and many other musical oddities. Even classic, eclectic punk is chewed up and spit out as something entirely different on the cover of the MINUTEMEN quickie "Bob Dylan Wrote Propaganda Songs".

That leaves us with the blunt cynicism of screamer Kevin Sharp. I mean, what better time in our society than now for he and Hoak to put their humanity-hating minds together for another batch of pestilent prose. As expected, nary a politician, CEO, authority figure or any other random douche bag is safe from Sharp's venom. What more could I say about it that the line, 'rub your cocks with sweat from backs of the working stiffs collar' doesn't say already?

On that note, there really isn't much that can be said about this symphony of destruction (in part because those words haven't been invented yet),other than that a new standard from grind has been set. The best way to describe "Evolution Through Revolution" would be to imagine a variable speed chainsaw where have the blades have been replaced with sledgehammers and then taking it on a frenzied rampage through a shopping mall. Sound fun?