Cory Smoot was probably better known as Flattus Maximus of GWAR, the band he played guitar for between 2002 and 2011. Whilst on tour he suffered a fatal heart attack and died at the far too young age of 34. This posthumous album was recorded in 2010 at Cory’s own Karma studios and was originally meant to be a concept album with vocals provided by other members of the burgeoning Richmond scene including Dave Brockie of GWAR and Lamb of God’s Randy Blythe. Due to scheduling difficulties he recorded the vocals himself, went on tour and the rest is unfortunately history. With the setting up of The Cory Smoot Family Fund the album is being released with any proceeds from it donated to the cause.

The album is probably not as complete as Cory would have intended if he had the time to do more with it and realise his ambition of turning it into concept album ‘Religion Is Fiction.’ Still as is, this is a pretty good blueprint for what the completed album would have sounded like and a release that is sadly the last recording we will be able to hear from Cory.

Recognisable spiralling guitar work from the man behind albums such as ‘War Party’ and ‘Beyond Hell’ flail out the speakers as we go straight into ‘The Blood Red.’ There is a hefty stomp behind the song and gruff and clean vocals handled with finesse. Cory may have wanted more recognisable singers but he is obviously no slouch himself. We go into a Southern rock sounding boogie before the song is done and some riffs that would have ZZ Top stroking their beards; obviously there are a fair few ideas about this. That does make the album a bit scattered all over the place though, there are 12 tracks on it and one does feel that given the time some may have been lost and others more clearly defined. Doom, sludge and stoner all rear heads on ‘Fortunate sun’ it’s almost Crowbar etched but at just over 2 minutes finishes when you really want it to kick in. However the next number does just that and there is no denying that ‘Religion Is Fiction’ is one of those songs that would have been better suited to Brockie’s gruff bark rather than Smoot’s more harmonious croons. It’s a battering old number reminiscent of GWAR at their prime and reminds a bit of numbers like ‘Ham On the Bone’

The poignant ballad ‘Brainfade’ is a neat little number that opens up with some great licks but the lyrics which talk about wasting and fading away are a little difficult considering just what happened. Luckily this is swiftly swiped aside by another GWAR sounding rattler ‘Mandatory Purgatory’ a swift and brutal kick in the balls bolstered by “fuck this” and “justice” growled out in the lyrics. Brutality and scorching guitar licks all clash head on in the apocalyptic morass that is ‘Countdown To Oblivion’ and it is another of the longer and more defined tracks on the album. The title track is discordant and ugly and meant to be, collision of worlds is never going to be pretty and the sci-fi sounding guitar licks and hefty drum blows are dealt out with hefty progressiveness.

On the whole it is an interesting album and in the case of last track ‘Sloth Loves Chunk’ distinctly odd. Still for me it didn’t quite gel in places and left me feeling like I was listening to a snapshot of ideas. As much as I would love to give this a higher mark considering the tragic circumstances surrounding the release I am unable to do so. Still if you are a fan of GWAR this is certainly an album that is worth a listen as you will hear many nuances in it and a definite stamp of authority from the sadly deceased musician.

(6/10 Pete Woods)

http://www.metalblade.com/smootfamilyfund