Criminal Element
Career Criminal EP
8.5
Synopsis:
So what if you took a former member of Dying Fetus, members of Suffocation and members of Catastrophic (so then Pyrexia), and turned them loose on 8 songs of grinding, grooving savagery? That would be pretty cool wouldn’t it?
You fucking bet.
Review:
Thankfully, this Vince Matthews (ex-Dying Fetus), Terrance Hobbs, Derek Boyer (Suffocation) led project (rounded out by Catastrophic/Pyrexia’s Rob Maresca and Jon Cincotta) sounds exactly like you’d would think an amalgamation of the above bands would sound; early punk rooted Dying Fetus styled grind (circa Killing On Adrenaline) mixed with some Suffocation/Pyrexia -ish death metal breakdowns.
Dual vocals abound with speedy Napalm Death-ish grindcore licks (“Bitch Slapped”, "Blind Rosary”, “Charges Pending”), the 8 tracks are over all too soon, but make a solid impact, especially when this tongue in cheek super group of sorts kicks into one of their early Suffocation inspired (who in turn inspired Dying Fetus-but you know what I mean) grooves as heard on “Career Criminal”, “Kirking Out”, “Dysfunctional” and the total Suffocation styled opening of “Working the Corpses”. My only minor quibble is that the cartoonish cover and humorous criminal concept--just cos it’s a grind side project does it HAVE to be tongue in cheek?
With a production that’s as equally influenced as the music, Career Criminal is a kickass little EP that should appeal to any bands mentioned, and I look forward to a full length sometime soon.
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Criminal ElementGuilty As Charged
11/30/2008