Fango recently received a bit of inside information that reports the Trioxin epidemic to be alive and well...on Long Island?!? Being a former longtime resident, I can tell you from experience that watching the New York Islanders lose on a daily basis and attending the annual Oyster Bay Oyster Festival aren’t all the glitz and glam they may appear to be from the outside. But fear not, fright fans, because a rotting, brain-hungry phoenix has recently risen from the ashes in the form of the Island’s own grind/metal/punk/zombie-core band, Warfear. Their fifth studio album, ADDICTED TO TRIOXIN, is composed of eight brutal tracks all lovingly dedicated to a film near and dear to every one of your putrid hearts, 1985’s RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD.

The album slowly slithers out of the ground with its opening track, “Brains!!!” Three repetitious and distorted guitar notes sludge their way through varying percussion beats, swelling the atmosphere created by the ominous dialogue from Frank and Freddy’s discussion pertaining to the military drums in the basement of the Uneeda medical supply warehouse. As the tension reaches its peak, Frank explains “They shipped those bodies here.” And the mayhem ensues.

Screaming guttural vocals, marred guitars and more violent than rhythmic blast beats are what’s in store on the remaining seven tracks, which should be no surprise to any grindcore fan. But where this album prevails instead of being lost in the grind-shuffle is its slight deviation from the norm. I’ve never been a big fan of the “microsong” that the genre is infamous for, yet at the same time, most “extreme” genre bands cannot produce a song with such an epic and timeless feel that’s worthy of upwards of six-plus minutes. ADDICTED’s average song length of roughly two-and-a-half minutes stays around just long enough to take a big slimy chunk out of you but doesn’t overstay its welcome. And the lyrical content will win you over as well.

From the ear-piercing, bloodcurdling female screams to the dinner bells cleverly smattered throughout the drum tracks, it’s hard to not smirk and bang your head to the likes of “Send More Cops!!”, “Send More Paramedics!!” and “Naked Scream Queen” while reading their unsettling, homage-paying lyrics (unless rigor mortis has set in). And don’t even tell me “The Pain of Being Dead” doesn’t bring a tear to your eye as you envision Tony Gardner’s animatronic half-corpse oozing spinal fluid.

RETURN OF THE LIVNG DEAD already has one of my favorite soundtracks. From Rocky Erickson’s emotionally taxing “Burn the Flames” to The Cramps’ and T.S.O.L.’s morbidly hip “Surfin’ Dead” and “Eyes Without a Face,” it all works in and out of the film’s context. Warfear has done a stellar job and should be proud that eight more tracks have been added to the film’s musical pantheon. Excruciatingly catchy hooks and addictively heavy riffs abound!

Do yourself a favor and check out the band’s official website. The kind little ruffians not only have the standard fare of CDs, LPs and chunk-blowingly impressive shirts and posters available for purchase, but you can also listen to and download every track from both “Addicted to Trioxin” and their “4 Left Dead” EP absolutely free! Seriously, what more do you want?! Many of you may find most forms of “extreme music” to be useless noise, laughable and impossible to comprehend...but that’s your loss. 

 

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Reviews - Musick Reviews