Fuck it, this is incredible great, that
SLAPSHOT are finally really back again for one more round. (And hopefully then also more.) How long is it now, that "
DIGITAL WARFARE" and "
TEAR IT DOWN" had been released?!? Oh man... "
DIGITAL WARFARE" was released back then in in 2003, man, eleven years passed us by since then. And I think "
TEAR IT DOWN" was released just one or two years after "
DIGITAL WARFARE" some time around 2005 or so - but don't nail me on that - ... man, you see... a decade easily passed us by since
SLAPSHOT were the last time around, many years and a lot of time. And now from out of nowhere they make their return with their (brand-) new self-titled "
SLAPHSHOT" full length album. And when I say from out of nowhere then I mean "from out of nowhere", because at least I haven't got them on my radar anymore. (And that was a huge mistake.) Surely, they played a lot of great concerts and toured their ass' off over the last decade, sure, but I haven't expected them to release a proper new full length - that so really came like sort out of nowehere for me - and now here it is (okay, already since September... but okay, let us say since "now"...) and here's finally coming my review on it for you. Okay, now here we go, the topic is "
SLAPSHOT" from
SLAPSHOT. And if you like so then you can maybe easily speak of their second comeback or anyhow something like this, and you know what, as long as they keep on coming back that great like they did with "
DIGITAL WARFARE" already back then and espceially with "
SLAPSHOT" nowadays too they can surely come back as often as they want, because this is (again) just a perfect and an amazing album, point and fact. So, after I bought "
SLAPSHOT" some day this passed September I figured out for how long "
DIGITAL WARFARE" wasn't on heavy rotation since some years now (same counts for "
TEAR IT DOWN", just btw), and so I decided to change this finally again, as well as I was listening heavily to the newest one here, and I came to two conclusions:
(
1.) I still fucking love "
DIGITAL WARFARE" and it's still amazing how ultra- or über-aggressive and no holds barred brutal it was and (still) is, so bitter, evil, grim, tough as nails, pissed off, nasty, and mean, hell man, it's still so fucking incredible all the energy and attitude, like a dominant storm of power, fury, and steel it conquered and still conquers everyything, damn it, and it's by any means still in my book one of the strongest and most true and real Hardcore albums ever. So, with this said and with this became clear to me, yes, I started to ask myself what now maybe you ask yourself: "When "
DIGITAL WARFARE" was and still is such a masterpiece, how would "
SLAPSHOT" stand its ground?!?" - And this leads us to the second conclusion that came to my mind...
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2.) Oh man, and how and in what a outstanding way it stands its ground, no matter if compared with "
DIGITAL WARFARE" (and "
TEAR IT DOWN", that was and still is also a just awesome- and in this case- little album) or with any other album (
SLAPSHOT born or not), and it is definitely one of the by far very strongest albums of and for 2014 and pretty sure also for the next years to come, Hardcore in particular, and music in general, and you can be sure that you will find it very, very high in my top ten 2014 albums list, and it is also not only one of the strongest 2014 album and will surely remain one of the very strongest albums for years, but it is also one of the damn fucking very, very strongest albums in years. And even it's (maybe) not that ultra-aggressive, über-pissed off, and amazingly pissed off, bitter, mean, and nasty like "
DIGITAL WARFARE" was it's still one hell of an eruptive and explosive outburst, and maybe due to the fact that "
DIGITAL WARFARE" was in general faster paced than these days "
SLAPSHOT" and it's pretty sure also due to this skullcracking fast pace that "
DIGITAL WARFARE" was and is such an über-aggressive musical jackhammer it's straight to say that with its more grooving and a little bit more down paced and to shredding and heavy grooving mid pace tending songs "
SLAPSHOT" is a by far more brutal and heavy bootstomp delivered right to your face and rampaging right through it cracking your skull in two, and to be more detailed and more precise it's even more brutal and heavy than its direct precusor release(s). And trust me when I say that you don't have to worry, because surely
SLAPSHOT didn't start to play Doom these days, to say it this way, hehehehe;-)... and even more surely they never ever wimped out, hehehehe;-)...
So, okay, with all this and that said let me tell you that masses of shredding and smashing guitar riffs, thundering and demolishing drums, a rampage going raging wild-hog styled bass at work, and broad and loud crew shouts wait for you on such a fantastic high and also stand-alone level of quality that it will simply make you go totally nuts while listening to it over and over again, and above all that totally unique shining ultra-pissed off and still über-aggressive lead vocals,
Choke simply is the man, and with saying that I mean he's
THE MAN, point and fact. And also expect the guitars to have that special and unique
SLAPSHOT tone and style. The songs are great done stuff, full of intensity, attitude, emotions, and attitude, honest and authentic Hardcore smashers for the real Hardcore Bouncers outta there, rough'n'tough as damn fucking nailes and all is completly no holds barred, and it's definitely nothing for the dumbass fancy trendy little wanna-be Tough Guys crowd, nope, let this scumbags just dance on and to their bad and horrible pseudo-Death Metal called Beatdown "Hardcore" or Death "Core" and all will (still) be fine. (but, don't get it wrong, not that all Beatdown Hardcore or Death Core would be terrible, I mean something different...) At least all will be (still) fine for me, hehehehe;-). Also the songs vary nicely and hold some nice little great surprises in store that're just waiting to be discovered by you and you and you, too. So, you see, also a very great and grapping and above all damn intense songwriting
SLAPSHOT offer us (again), not to talk about that these roughnecks definitely know how to score which means how to deliver the goods in the right way- and oh man how they still deliver... oh
HELL YEAH'!!! Also again we get a truckload full of great and very strong, very outspoken and expressive and nicely cliché-free lyrics, a pretty sinister and above all completly supreme and dominant ruling artwork, and all songs are wrapped in a fantastic heavy yet dirty loud production sound. And I swear you that the
SLAPSHOT version of the fantastic
DEPECHE MODE classic "
PERSONAL JESUS" is one of the most unique, out-standing, and simply most exciting and best cover versions of this song that you will ever have heard or ever hear, trust me, period. If you ask for my personal favorites then this would be "
I TOLD YOU SO", "
GO HARD", "
KILL IT WITH FIRE", "
FUCK IT", "
FREEZER BURN", "
YOU'RE ON MY LIST", "
NEVER TRUST A JUNKIE", and - of course - "
PERSONAL JESUS", but be sure that also that the not mentioned songs will conquer you in a total dominant way right from the get-go. So, I think you know by now all that you have to know, this here is one unique Old School Hardcore statement, totally alive and lively, fresh and new, grapping and relevant like not much else outta there, and it's also and above all simply just one hell of an album, so I will now cut it and just leave you with the order to go out and buy this album (in case you may still don't call it your own) and celebrate it, go rampage on/to it. One of the highest recommendations I've ever made up here. Stand-out band and album,
SLAPSHOT simply are the very, very best, period. So go out and get it.
HARDCORE!!!
FIST!!! /// Andy
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Rating: 10 of 10 points)
(Band contacts: https://www.facebook.com/SlapshotBoston?fref=ts & http://www.oldtimehardcore.com/ - And again Blogger ticks me off with simply refusing to post this as direct links to the pages... so you know the deal, copy the link-lines into the headlines of some new browser-tabs and then just go there... but Blogger sucks anyhow anyway... at leats currently - or better: in moments like this...!!!)
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