Another good ‘un from FDA Records here with the third full length from Germany thrashy death machine Weak Aside. I wasn’t familiar with the lads prior to receiving this but a bit of a blast through in the car on the way to and from they gym this week has made me a fan of their Malevolent Creation meets Immolation death metal attack.
This is a good, old school death metal album, with the emphasis very much on the riffs and some killer drumming from former Dew Scented fella, Marc Dieken. Add to that a bit of a creepy vibe to most of the tracks and you’re heading right up my (somewhat overused & tattered) alley. The vocals of Tom Zorn are vaguely reminiscent of Obituary glass gargler John Tardy, and none more so than the heavy mid-paced stomp of opener “Until You Died”. Someone will no doubt moan about this but Tom’s voice is awesome and fits the songs brilliantly in my view. “Royal Blood Dethroned” ups the pace nicely and then, exhibiting a nice bit of variety the band crack into “We’re All Condemned” which has a great intro which sees Weak Aside go all Vader. I genuinely thought my iPod had skipped. Good song though with a cracking solo by Arne Berents.
“Contact” is up next and has a really groovy intro and main riff that will get the toes tapping and the head nodding. Nothing that’ll blow your skirt up but, like most stuff I like, a basic metal track done exceedingly well and memorable too with the submarine sonar “ping” effects making me smile.
With tracks titled “Poison Gas”, “Violence”, “Contact” etc it’ll come as no surprise that this album is all about a young, emotional non-binary teen pining for the attention of his high school crush…… it’s not is it (thank fuck) it’s all about WAR! and all the better for it.
It’s not all good here though…. The cover art is a fucking abysmal and garish skull fest that looks like something a GCSE art student would knock up with his left foot. Vile.
Overall a really good album though. Memorable, chunky riffing. A decent variety of song structuring and pacing. Growly menacing vocals and on point drumming. Most boxes ticked and well recommended.
(8/10 Mark Eve)
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