"Preface"
starts this set off in fairly normal
punk
fashion with an adamant rhythm and insistent guitar riff, then kicks it up a gear with a blazing guitar solo. However,
Society's Parasites
then suddenly launch into
"In the City"
(no relation to
the Jam
song of the same title), with a blur of guitar licks, a faster than light speed rhythm, and vicious, shouted vocals. Sweating rage, frustration, and barely repressed violence from every pore, the
Parasites
put the hard as nails back in
hardcore
with this their eponymous album. With just a modicum of melody around the rhythm guitar, pummeling rhythms that never let up, and the fastest guitar solos known to man, these
are determined to suck the very life out of listeners. Well, they wouldn't be the first
speed metal
/
thrash
band to do that, but this is a
Society
of a different sort, pure
with an attitude and a penchant for speed. It could end up a Wall of Sound, but
Left Alone
's
Elvis Cortez
's sensational production insures that this never happens, for no matter how fast the song, the instruments remain distinct, a reflection of the band's flawless performances and awesome talent.
"American Nightmare"
is a particularly notable example, as the band run roughshod right over
Rancid
Matt Freeman
, as bassist
Andy
perfectly imitates his distinctive style at hyperspeed. The lead guitarist puts even that feat to shame, lashing out licks of lightning leads faster than a solar flare, he's virtually a blur on
"Swift and Deadly"
's intro, with a stutter of notes so fast they resemble hummingbird wings (a gentle comparison this assaultive band will inevitably abhor). The album ends aptly enough with
"Post Script,"
a gloomy number flecked with a nod to the
post-punk
scene and
the Banshees
, although the vinyl album finishes with a flourish with an infectious, rip-roaring bonus track. But for all the frenzy and fury that infuses this set, all the angry titles --
"Parasites,"
"Doomed,"
"Wishing Armageddon,"
"Nightmare"
-- raging vocals, and incendiary lyrics, there's something curiously liberating about this set, perhaps the shared cathartic experience of turning fury into furious music that's as glorious as it is vitriolic. ~ Jo-Ann Greene