ANTHRAX - Anthems : An EP of covers that nearly hits the mark...

ANTHRAX - Anthems (2013 - EP)


A very good but not great EP of rock covers by an Anthrax who are back and touring more than ever. 

 

Anyone who does a ripping cover of' TNT' by AC/DC like this ain't too bloody bad in my book. I originally thought the 'Jailbreak' cover here was by the Young's etal too but it's THIN LIZZY's. 

 

Others on this 8 track include tunes by BOSTON, a JOURNEY tune, one by RUSH, and CHEAP TRICK. Also here is an original called 'Crawl' by ANTHRAX from their 2011 album 'Worship Music'. Clever ploy guys, cover what I'm sure are some rock classics in many people's eyes and slip them a newie of their own. All sound vital and kicking and would be loved by many!!! 

 

Sadly I think their own track and the cover of THIN LIZZY's 'Jailbreak' are the weaker tracks of the album. 'Crawl' feels very 80's rock and sadly the not so great parts of that eras tunes. It seems to not have the vitality that they have put in to the covers and it's too drawn out somehow. I'm sure live they kick ass - I've never had the pleasure but I've heard and read they do - but albums, like most trees, usually have a few not so good apples on them, and these are 'Anthems'.

The Night of the Living Shred!! - An evening at Blackwire Records with Hostile Objects & friends

The Night of the Living Shred!!

HOSTILE OBJECTS, HYGIENE, RAPTRZ, ONE TAKE… EARTHQUAKE!

Blackwire Records
Petersham, Sydney
Friday, July 5, 2013

Review by: Derek J. Huckel
 

I was high on anticipation tonight as I’d never seen HOSTILE OBJECTS before, who were headlining tonight, and I’d never been to this Blackwire Records venue to see a band before either but was looking forward to both. After having heard, finally, the HOSTILE... demo recently and loved it, I was excited not only to see them but figured they’d compiled some like-musically challenged minds to play with them. I wasn’t disappointed.
 
Sadly I missed ONE TAKE EARTHQUAKE, especially after seeing the pedigree of the other bands on tonight. I hope to catch them soon. 
 
The RAPTRZ were a very cool note to arrive on. They’re a 4 piece with femme singer. The tunes have lots of great chugga-chugga guitars & shouty vocals. Being lo-fi seemed to give their sound an extra edge too.

All tunes were short and sharp jabs to the solar plexus and a kick to the face and the song was done. One band members’ shirt described part of their influence - 80's San Fran band FLIPPER but faster paced - maybe also like a 90s band in Sydney too, FLYCOP. Their set- list included ‘Intro’, ‘Raptrz’, ‘Punch - If Not Me (cover)’ ‘Gun’, and ‘Keyboard Warrior’ – some of which can be found on their demo at Bandcamp (see a link below).

After a short break the clean cut Canberra band HYGIENE were up. Looking like four public servants by day, these guys pulled out some wicked chords tonight! Branding their take on tunes as fastcore, these dudes grind and ripped through numbers like 'Road Kill Stew' and tried out some new as yet untitled tunes too, many mixed with some power violence style genre chords too..

These grind core upstarts were like NAPALM DEATH but more melodic. They had many here nodding and a few skankers - there wasn't much room for much else or too many to do that here in this crowded shop.

The air in this relatively confined shop space was electric and HOSTILE OBJECTS were soon on. Seeming not to be without a great hook and catchy rhythms these guys came on and slayed crowd with their brand of thrash songs, including some from their demo, like ‘Gloom’, ‘Turkish Knives’, and then a newie ‘Eat Your Money’ from a soon to be released 7"inch.

Rod with a singing style as if to the gods and his two wing men, his Vegas pool-pissing bassist Luke Death and mild mannered guitarist Jimmy Fatal backed by powerhouse drummer Grant Rizzo, arms flailing like Animal. These guys have a background and present in bands like PERSECUTION, MURDER, TWIN CITY FACTION, FRANK RIZZO, and SUMMONUS so you might get an idea of the melding of minds that make-up HOSTILE’s music.

HOSTILE OBJECTS in full flight, Blackwire Records, 5 July 2013 (pic by Jas)

Don't Waste Your Breath’ was next, that Rod announced will be out later this year on a compilation. The closer was a crushing version of ‘Cave In’ where the band threw themselves more into it!!

And with that, the gig was done. All good guys finish on curfew which was 10 pm in this area… but still it was brilliant and a great venue!! Check it out sometime.


The bands:

ONE TAKE… EARTHQUAKE!        
Website
https://www.facebook.com/pages/One-Take-Earthquake/138203832917809

3 song demo
https://www.facebook.com/pages/One-Take-Earthquake/138203832917809?sk=app_178091127385&app_data


RAPTRZ
website:       https://www.facebook.com/raptrzhc?fref=ts
tunes:          http://raptrz.bandcamp.com/

 
HYGIENE
website:     https://www.facebook.com/hygienecbr
 tunes:        http://hygiene-cbr.bandcamp.com/


HOSTILE OBJECTS
website:           https://www.facebook.com/hostileobjects
tunes:               http://hostileobjects.bandcamp.com/