Music: American Head Charge - The War Of Art

Ready to get your ass kicked?

American Head Charge - The War Of Art
Genre: Heavy Metal

They're insane. They're fucking brutal. And (it's a rarity for my reviewing habits, I know) they're American. It says so right in their name.

The War of Art is AHC's professional debut, and it's honestly one of the most solid and heart-stopping introductory albums I've ever heard. I've owned the album for a few years, and am actually anticipating their next one, so I decided to spread the wealth (or the filth) and illustrate for the Zelaron public just how crazy this damned CD is.

I was fortunate enough to see these guys live at Ozzfest three years ago, and was absolutely shocked. They stormed onto the stage, garbed in "Road Warrior"-esqe armor and firing blank rounds from a shotgun into the audience. After scaring the living piss out of everyone in the first five rows, the psychotic sextet launched into a half hour set of blistering guitars, haunting keyboards and razor-throated vocals. I was impressed beyond words.

The opening track is the aptly titled "A Violent Reaction" and within seconds, it bursts forth from the bowels of your CD player and promptly kicks you square in the nuts. The entire song features crunching guitars, thudding bass and a vocal arrangement purged from the deepest, blackest pits of Hell. Yet, in spite of the chaos, the song pushes itself into a eerily melodic refrain, which compliments the ensuing harshness nicely.

The album pummels forward, hitting the listener with track after track of unrelenting brutality, until the sixth track, titled "Just So You Know" at which point the boys in AHC demonstrate just how talented they really are. The song opens with one of the creepiest keyboard effects I've ever heard, and churns through a spiral of slogging guitarwork and crystalline vocals. Easily one of the best songs that these guys have to offer, and considering the remainder of the tracks on the CD, that's a pretty big statement.

The album continues, stepping the brutality up abruptly with the seventh track, "Seamless," in which vocalist Martin Cock roars through a tirade of lyrics focusing on violent, disturbing sex. A few tracks later, however, the absolute raving lunacy of this album truly kicks into gear with the absurdly titled "Americunt Evolving Into Useless Psychic Garbage." The entire pacing of the track is ridiculous, with off-kilter time signatures and frantic guitars. A fantastic song, perfect for murdering an entire nursery school to.

The true crescendo of the album, however, comes on the second to last track, "All Wrapped Up." This song is arguably the most infectious offering on the album, but why in the name of God they chose to stick it at the very end is beyond my understanding. It begins with a truly odd spoken quote, and proceeds to fly into a murderous rampage of maraudering guitars and figuratively indecipherable lyrics. I dare even so much as one of you to tell me what the hell the song is about, because I honestly can't figure it out. The guitarwork tears along at a grinding pace, and just when the song has reached it's melodic climax, it drops into one of the most incalculably vicious breakdowns I've ever heard. Hell, I'd go so far as to say that this song's "bridge" is one of the coolest fucking mosh-parts I've ever witnessed. My entire band liked this song so much that we covered it at nearly every show we played up until a few months ago. It just fucking rocks.

I can't really explain any further how badass this album is. In all honesty, there are a total of four tracks of which I'm not particularly fond, while the other twelve are absolute fucking gold. You've been looking for music to destroy something to? American Head Charge will give you precisely what you've been looking for, and leave you just enough blood in your rotting carcass so that you can plead for more. Grab The War Of Art and obliterate something today.

Score: 9.7 (out of 10)

Recommended Tracks: "All Wrapped Up", "Just So You Know" and "A Violent Reaction"