KILL THE CLIENT

Is there a grindcore enthusiast alive that does not know what to except from a KILL THE CLIENT album? I seriously doubt it. Time after time the Dallas boys bring you definitive grindcore albums with no blurring of the lines and a sociopolitical agenda that is miles left of George W. Bush and his protégé John McCain. They brought it on their last full length release, "Escalation of Hostility" and they bring it on an even purer grindcore effort called "Cleptocracy".

"Cleptocracy" is 23 minutes and 18 songs of quintessential, no-nonsense grindcore; there is really no other way to state it. The passion is overflowing and the methods of destruction are speed-based and teeth-rattling, which is exactly what good grindcore is supposed to be. Somewhat surprisingly (not sure why, it just is),"Cleptocracy" is a more straight ahead, rawer effort than "Escalation of Hostility", itself not exactly a shiny, happy exercise in musical execution. Some of that may have to do with bassist James Delgado taking care of every aspect of the recording this time (engineering, mixing, mastering); not just the engineering, as was the case with "Escalation of Hostility". The rabid dog barks of vocalist Morgan in particular are nastier and even more in your face with that distorted edge that makes everything seem so much more dangerous. Oh sure, you get the occasional metal-scraping-metal breakdown (e.g. "Evidence of Injustice" and "Downfall"),although that probably has more to do with lulling the listener into a false sense of security than anything else, so when the next attack comes you're not ready for it. Tossing in the cover of INFEST's "Terminal Nation" to bring the war to an end seems about right.

Topping off the sonic violence is the fantastic black-and-white artwork of Aaron Nichols and loads of pointed political diatribes about everything from corporate greed to government corruption to the ills of right wing inbreeding (e.g. "Red State Redneck"). Ain't a goddamned thing fancy or contrived about "Cleptocracy". It is just KILL THE CLIENT doing what it does best.