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Review |
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I have only just come across Cross Examination and
what a bunch of mental guys, they are a five piece
from St.Louis, Missouri who formed in 2004, the
band have a love for thrash metal, beer, touring
and getting on the wrong side of the law from time
to time. Cross Examination have a really hectic
energetic sound, much faster and energetic than
most music these days. It’s like these guys
have guzzled many bottles of cider and then pissed
on a train track with the electronic volts giving
them super powers, rather than knocking them out
cold, just don’t try this yourself as you
may be more than knocked out cold.
Cross Examination are far from being shy, they
are forever getting drunk, forever downing beer
out of bottle bongs whilst on the road in between
shows, they are forever smashing up their equipment
and they have gained a big hardcore fan base due
to their crazy antics and their mad sound that
hasn’t changed throughout the years.
'Menace II Sobriety' is the new album from Cross
Examination and has been released on Organised
Crime Records, a record label that sure knows
how to please their customers as not only did
they send me this album from Cross Examination
they also sent me their latest comic book 'Tales
From The Keg' to read through which was a bonus,
the comic has two whacky stories and has some
awesome artwork.
Anyway back to the album 'Menace II Sobriety',
it has 12 songs and runs for just over 25 minutes,
so if you do the maths you will realise that the
songs on the album are really short running for
2-3 minutes each in length, but it’s all
good because the speed these guys play I think
longer songs would sound pretty odd and out of
place for them. So yeah the songs are short and
fast, the thrashy guitar riffs are played at such
a fast pace packing in such a big powerful sound
and Kegmaster D's vocals are really speedy and
jagged sounding and the additional backing vocals
add extra dynamics to the sound of the album.
What makes Cross Examination unlike many bands
around is the fact that they take 80's thrash
metal and add their own unique feel to it but
keep everything sounding old skool like thrash
metal should be, rather than bringing the sound
to the 21st century. The songs that the band cover
on the album are either pretty fucked up or things
that the band believe in and do such as 'Maximum
Overchill', it’s a song about sitting down
playing computer games whilst waiting to go to
a party at night, which is pretty much what every
student does these days so a lot of people can
relate to the song. Most of the songs on the album
mention beer or bars, just check out the lyrics
for 'Arson Party Squad', 'Raid Your Fridge', 'Menace
To Sobriety' and 'Blackout' and you will see that
I’m not lying.
As mentioned above Cross Examination are a new
band to me, and I am already becoming a fan of
the band after just a couple of listens of 'Menace
II Sobriety' The guitar riffs throughout the whole
album are frantic and the guitar solos are pretty
clean and guitar hero worthy, Kegmaster D has
a way with words and has a rapid-fire vocal style
that is insanely great, whilst drummer Ryan O'
Brien just bashes the shit out of his equipment
like every beat’s going to be his last.
If you are after a good new thrash metal record
then I don’t think you can get better than
'Menace II Sobriety' at the moment, I can’t
wait to see what the future holds for Cross Examination
with their no holds barred I don’t give
a fuck attitude.
5/5
Review by Trigger |
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| Band
Members |
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Kegmaster D (vocals)
Leon St. cin (guitar)
Justin Toxicated (guitar)
Raymondo Arriola (bass)
Ryan O'Brien (drums) |
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Listing |
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1. Return Of The Shredder (Intro)
2. Maximum Overchill
3. Necroponics
4. Unlimited Chainsaw
5. Arson Party Squad
6. Collateral Jam-age
7. Thrashin' For The Cash In (Royalty Check)
8. Raid Your Fridge
9. Menace To Sobriety
10. Blackout
11. Operation Devastation
12. The Wimp Chipper (Outro) |
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| Band
Related Links |
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| Review
Score Code |
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- Top Cheese
- Brilliant
- Pretty damn good
- Ok I guess
-
What Was That? |
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