Houwitser
Damage Assessment
7.3
A Howitzer is a short barreled cannon which fires projectiles at a medium muzzle velocity, or so they say. In broader terms it's an artillery piece used to bombard the enemy from behind friendly lines. It is best used to fire at an arc and rain explosive death from above. What has this to do with the band Houwitzer? Nothing, really. Just a cool sounding name for a cool band, I guess. You get to review all kinds of shit here at MetalReview Dot Com - some of it great, some of it crappy. It can become a glut, either way. You get to where you think you are all jaded and overly critical and whatever. You start to wonder if you are losing touch with what you love about metal. All that after four months! Imagine how the actual veterans feel. hehe. But I will tell you something. I have played Houwitzer pretty much non stop in my car since I got my hands on it, and I fucking love it. It’s death metal. That's all it is. And it cooks. Nothing fancy, nothing technical, nothing epic or grand or intricate or blah blah. These guys just make grooving, meaty death metal of various tempos and unwell riffs. This is just good death metal. And I can still tell, which has me pretty happy. This is not a band of phenomenal ability, execution or production. They are good at all of the above, however, and the sum is greater than its parts. The band plays as a more or less tight little unit in the Eurodeath style - pretty old school with just a smidgeon of brutal now and then. They have a meaty cohesiveness to their sound. It's riff based, with a lot of chunky start and stop guitaring that gives the band texture and style. The songs are short and to the point, apart from the final track which is long and to the point. The record is produced with a live, few-takes feel that gives it some balls and excitement. Everything sounds rehearsal hall organic, a what-you-hear-is what-you-get ethos that really works for this group. The set is tied together with the sounds of battle, and while I dig the hell out of machine guns and cannons, it really doesn't make the record any more or less cohesive. Call it fun but unnecessary. The music stands by itself just fine. Bottom Line: Hey, you know, sometimes you just want your metal the way you learned to love it. No bullshit, no pretense, no candy. This is not top ten material, but it's sticking around and it will get played. For the death metal lovers out there, do not come to this with expectations of Psycroptic, Decrepit Birth or Nile. No ground is being broken. But if you need something to really just bang your fucking head to, this is a keeper. I will listen to it again.
