HOSTILITY

"If you want ultimate heaviness, go buy a HOSTILITY CD!" It is the quote from famed producer Colin Richardson on the promotional copy of HOSTILITY's debut, "Uncompromised", an album to which he lends his incredible mixing skills. Who out there really believes that of all the bands purporting to be the heaviest that HOSTILITY (not to be confused with the '90s Century Media group, members of which are now in GULCH) is truly the ultimate in heaviness? I've got news for you folks, "Uncompromised" is one of the most intense, brutal, volatile, [insert additional adjectives here], releases I've heard all year. I couldn't care less about debates over the title of "world's heaviest band," but "Uncompromised" is state of the art American metal aggression; no question about it.

Those not prepared for it will get a fist in the face and a boot up the ass upon first listens to the jarring sounds of "Uncompromised". The style is one that takes the extreme metal of bands like PANTERA, early MACHINE HEAD, even the over-the-top explosiveness of SLIPKNOT's heaviest moments and forces it through a blender with the controlled chaos of acts such as PREMONITIONS OF WAR and ION DISSONANCE. Still, it is not math metal and one never gets the sense that HOSTILITY is trying to impress folks with unconventional arrangements or technical proficiency. That said, much damage is inflicted upon the listener through satisfyingly dissonant chords and non-traditional riffing. Even though there is no melody to speak of, the song structures are kept from breaking apart into a thousand pieces by plenty of memorable lines and what some might consider choruses (listen to the excellent "None for All", "Draining the Blister", "Conditioned to Fail", and "Common Ground" for examples). Considering what often sounds like the disorder of a battlefield slaughter, terms like accessibility seem ill fitting. And yet you cannot stop listening to the disc once you start. Even after nearly an hour's worth of material, the desire remains to go back and listen again.

Going back to the Colin Richardson treatment, a "holy shit!" is in order. He has harnessed the band's unrelenting aggression through thick 'n' rubbery bass lines, guitars that slash and stab in several directions at once (yet somehow come together to form lethal structures),and drumming that will crumble your home's foundation. Greg Haran's vocals are a mix of vicious barks and face-reddening screams that are pure rage and conviction. Images of violence are conjured through the band's sonic vitriol at every turn; a recurring image one of a torrential downpour of jagged guitar shards and severed limbs.

Bands cannot fake this kind of remorseless aggression. "Uncompromised" is the definition of heavy and the height of aggression. You will not walk away unscathed from sessions spent with the album. Crawling away is a possibility…if you're lucky.