Review of Pissing Razors - Evolution

Pissing Razors return! I've loved Razors for a long time. Cast Down the Plague is an unbelievable disc that has stood the test of time, right along with their s/t, Fields of Disbelief, and Where We Come From discs. All of these have at least one undeniable element in common: Eddy Garcia's mind-blowing drum work. When I heard Cast Down the Plague, I thought the disk had scratches on it and was skipping in a few spots because, at the time, I'd never heard drumming that speedy. Then Fields of Disbelief followed with the same crazy drumming and some of the heaviest guitar riffs I'd heard, and they were so tight together. I still love those discs and broadcast them at monster decibel levels when the Razors spot arrives on the expanding metal rotation wheel. So Evolution has arrived now, and does it sport everything that has made Pissing Razors what they are? Sadly, no. If you follow Razors news, you are well aware of the revolving door line-up that has plagued these goons ever since Cast Down the Plague. Eddie and Rick seem to be the only mainstays, but on Evolution you'd swear that Eddy left. Where's the schizophrenic double bass eruptions and highly skilled chiming littering the speakers in perfect technikill mathematical precision? And where's the lightning-quick, tremolo-picked guitar riffs? They're not on Evolution. Basically, this album has stalled in some areas but "excelled", or expanded rather, in a few others. It's just a given that the production is going to be impeccable ever since Eddy took over after apprenticing under the mighty Andy Sneap, this disc is no exception. Superb knob-turning courtesy of Garcia Industries. My disappointment, however, in Evolution, aside from the lack of Eddy ripping shit up on drums is the seemingly "please-aller" approach to the new vox. There are quite a few soft semi-melodic passages that, quite frankly, I don't want to hear in Pissing Razors. The main bulk of vocals, however, resemble ex-Cryptopsy front man Mike DiSalvo. With the addition of these softer vox, lack of warp-speed double kick patterns, and slightly simpler riffing patterns, Razors give a faint impression of the loss of crucial aggression that made Razors of yore timeless classics of organized hatred. Don't get the wrong idea though; every song on Evolution is very memorable and quality. But it's really short, it lacks market-fresh musical material, and it sounds as if Eddy may have lost a testikill in a freak accident or something because the trademark testosterone percussive power is just not there on this one. Like I stated before, the songs are still of quality caliber. My favorites are probably the somber "Perseverance", followed by the album's best track, "The Threshold", which displays a flash of that "Crazy Eddy" at the very beginning, and then grows to two obvious helpings of the "Texas Spice" that PR are known for, especially at 2:20. That riff belongs to these jumping beans and no one else! "Takedown" also sports the blunt drop-D power chord abuse that turns heads while driving through campus, and "Replace this Day" has a dirty down-tuned main riff that eventually instigates the air guitar. Evolution is no doubt Pissing Razors and is no doubt millennium metal. Some people have tried to categorize PR as hardcore, brutal thrash, deathcore, and others that just don't completely hit the nail on the head. I've tried myself to approximate their sound, but I can't. If you know PR, then you share my difficulty, I'm sure. They are a hard-working band that consistently delivers good metal. But is Evolution my favorite Razors album? No. It has and will continue to get lots of airtime, but I won't employ it as a primer for mugging civilians in dark alleys like Cast Down or Fields suits well for.

Release Details

Pissing Razors

Evolution

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