ALBUM REVIEW: With Man In Charge – Violation Wound
Despite releases from AUTOPSY at the the end of last year, and the psych/country/rock bizarreness that was PAINTED DOLL earlier this year, death metal legend Chris Reifert has still managed to find time for two other releases with his punk outfit VIOLATION WOUND. There was the split album with BASTARDHAMMER and now this twenty track debut offering for Peaceville Records, which sees Reifert moving from his usual position behind the drum kit to take up guitars and vocals, and teaming up with Joe Orterry on bass and Matt O’ Connell on drums for what the band call “insane music for insane times for insane people.”
From the outset its very clear where the meat of this release comes from, with album opener Humanity Burning reminiscent of AUTOPSY’s more up-tempo punkier tunes, but it also becomes very apparent that this is not just a slightly different sounding AUTOPSY album, but very much a different beast as the next few tracks progress. The first three tracks race by coming in around sixty/eighty seconds each and are much more hardcore sounding than anything else. The only link to anything else is the twisted vocals of Reifert, but they fit in perfectly with the rest of the noise, so its just a matter of getting used to them in a different setting. There is a bit of a pattern throughout the album where VIOLATION WOUND throw in two or three shorter songs in amongst the longer ones. This breaks it up really well and means the album doesn’t lose focus or doesn’t seem to have any fillers. It’s all just part of the journey through the chaos.
Peppered throughout the rest of the album are a number of tracks which fall between two and three minutes and offer a great deal of experimentation compared to the other tracks. There are solos on there, and the pace is generally slowed down a little, although each of them seem to have a moment where it all lets loose again. Stalemate Suicide and Unhinged World are the standouts of the longer tracks, showing the band can hold back a little, while still being as angry and intense as the sub one minute tracks. It’s just a different way of approaching it. And during during some of these, especially on Destroy The Factory, you can sense the intensity in not just the lyrics, but also in the way they are delivered.
Twenty songs in thirty-five minutes. Its everything you want from a hardcore punk album. VIOLATION WOUND are fast, nasty and aggressive, but this record also has a point and a message about it, and is so much more than just a side project. With Man In Charge is the type of album that this scene needs right now, taking it back to its furious, raw old school roots, but also mixing things up a little here and there and producing something which doesn’t really sound like anything else out there right now.
Rating: 8/10
With Man In Charge is out now via Peaceville Records.
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