Nefarious - s/t

by T. Tram Clean

First, hooray for a cassette-only release. That's the only medium I listen to in the car and much of my favorite tunes are on cassette. They're not dead yet.

Nefarious has an ample vocalist who offers up a fine mix of howling, snarling and tortured wailing. Underneath is some incredibly spastic drumming, this guy has got to be good live. There's some engaging drama with the arrangements, and the two guitars occasionally have some interplay when they're not playing the same thing. When they do play the same thing, the tunes slip into the mush of the sub-par production. The production is the weakest point here. The whole thing is bit too rounded off . . . where's the grit? The bite? These are crucial elements in metal. No doubt a live show by these guys offers a good bite in the sac, but listening to this release did NOT make the hairs on my arm stand up . . . and when people are thrashing their instruments this violently and screaming so wildly, I should be getting goosebumped. Part of the lacking response is desensitization . . how can metal bands sound brutal after Slayer and Marduk and so many others before? Sure Nefarious are brutal, but they're retro-brutal. You can go watch (this is a far-off comparison musically, but . . ) the Itchies imitating the real thing live, or listen to the Sonics or Monks recordings of the real thing. I want the real thing. I'm sick to fucking death of retrospective music, whole genres are being looted over and over, for style over substance. Anyways, Nefarious are good imitators, (so what). I don't believe metal is dead, however, the bar has been raised into the stratosphere. Bands playing in a genre that's so thoroughly flushed really have got their work cut out for them.

This is an Armageddon release, and in support of a great record store, go buy it. Maybe Ann or Ben can turn you on to some other more fufilling metal, they certainly have the best stock around.