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Anger As Art - Anger As Art
Release: 2006Label: Old School Metal Records
By: Anders
Posted: Jul 18, 2006
This is the first recording of Steve Gaines' (Abbatoir, Blodlust, Pagan War Machine, ex-Dream Of Damnation) solo project. It was originally released back in 2004, as a Steve Gaines album, as he plays all instruments on the album, accompanied by a drum machine. Though since then he has gotten a full band together and has been signed to Old School Metal Records, which by the way soon is ready with the band's sophomore effort "Callous And Furor". In this connection "Anger As Art" has been re-released, with 4 live bonus tracks on top of the original material.
We are getting heavy and slaying thrash metal, done the American way. The base of the tracks is heavy and catchy riffing, with some good hooks and great melodic and wicked leads, it is very easy to get carried away by the great and effective rifffing, and the guitars drive the music very well ahead. The bass lines are heavy and mean, and lay a good catchy bottom for the music, and there are some good hooks delivered by the bass as well. The drumming isn't that interesting, the drum machine runs wild and delivers pretty steady beats, which becomes tiring in the end, due to lack of variation. Though the live tracks really show how much better the songs become when they are played with real drums, so perhaps a re-recording of this album along the line, could be a blast.
Composition-wise the music is clever made and builds upon many genres from pure heavy metal, to punk, to real old school thrash and all in between those types of music. Yea, we even get a small reggae inspired bit in the title track. The songs are well-varied and present themselves well, and offer a lot of feasts for lovers of thrash and metal in general. The vocals from Gaines are pretty good as well, they are raw and straight on, and might need a little getting used to for some, as they can seem a bit weird at times. But damn how they work well in the universe of Anger As Art, and lifts the overall atmosphere, and adds a lot of emotion and passion into the game.
It is a pretty good and impressive debut album Steve Gaines here has made, it would be a lie to say it's very original, as it builds on bullet-proof ideas, though it works well and screams for a good deal of headbanging. The only downside to the album, is the damned drum-machine, but one can abstract from that, and enjoy the pure music. And the live part of the CD, which actually is quite good and enjoyable, shows that the songs are more than strong with real drums on them. This is a band to look out for in the future, if the style has been kept and developed from this album, "Callous And Furor" will be a slaying effort.
We are getting heavy and slaying thrash metal, done the American way. The base of the tracks is heavy and catchy riffing, with some good hooks and great melodic and wicked leads, it is very easy to get carried away by the great and effective rifffing, and the guitars drive the music very well ahead. The bass lines are heavy and mean, and lay a good catchy bottom for the music, and there are some good hooks delivered by the bass as well. The drumming isn't that interesting, the drum machine runs wild and delivers pretty steady beats, which becomes tiring in the end, due to lack of variation. Though the live tracks really show how much better the songs become when they are played with real drums, so perhaps a re-recording of this album along the line, could be a blast.
Composition-wise the music is clever made and builds upon many genres from pure heavy metal, to punk, to real old school thrash and all in between those types of music. Yea, we even get a small reggae inspired bit in the title track. The songs are well-varied and present themselves well, and offer a lot of feasts for lovers of thrash and metal in general. The vocals from Gaines are pretty good as well, they are raw and straight on, and might need a little getting used to for some, as they can seem a bit weird at times. But damn how they work well in the universe of Anger As Art, and lifts the overall atmosphere, and adds a lot of emotion and passion into the game.
It is a pretty good and impressive debut album Steve Gaines here has made, it would be a lie to say it's very original, as it builds on bullet-proof ideas, though it works well and screams for a good deal of headbanging. The only downside to the album, is the damned drum-machine, but one can abstract from that, and enjoy the pure music. And the live part of the CD, which actually is quite good and enjoyable, shows that the songs are more than strong with real drums on them. This is a band to look out for in the future, if the style has been kept and developed from this album, "Callous And Furor" will be a slaying effort.
Rating: 7½/10
Anger As Art website
Anger As Art interview
Kindly supplied by Old School Metal Records
Anger As Art interview
Kindly supplied by Old School Metal Records
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