It’s Monday and Mondays suck, so let’s grind it out with Tokyo Gas Attack’s Money.
Yeah, the column has been absent for the last two weeks and I’ve got no excuse for it. And I’m not going to go into details on why. So, let’s just get this week rolling, because if there’s one thing a lot of us want, it’s to be done with the first day in a stretch of five. Hopefully this will help speed your week along, as is always my intention.
Tokyo Gas Attack is a four piece grinding unit out of Austin, TX. No frills, no fancy bullcrap–nothing but grinding mayhem laced with death metal influences and some powerviolence flair. The band has been punching our releases since last November/December. And with the very recent release of Money, there’s no time like the now to get on this.
Money actually seems like a concept record about the film Shot Caller. I seems like because I haven’t seen the film, so either it heavily borrows from it, or just is. But the album starts out with a quote from the film, and quickly gets into grinding. The immediate blasting amplifies the dialogue and the frantic voices make the piece sound mad.
The guitar work is what makes this record interesting though. It often sounds like its deathgrind driven. And it is, but the attitude remains on the punk end of things. It’s the fact that the band utilize a lead sound rather than falling on rhythm that makes it so stand out. Tracks like “Money Disturbs the Peace” is extremely punk laden, but then it suddenly dives like it’s Slayer or Nails, and then band gets wailing, even going full death metal.
Though the band has powerviolence, there is, again, a bigger focus on the death metal influences. But once “Money Holds the Keys” hits, the band sound like they’re almost full-blown hardcore-punk. The track starts out pissed and punchy, like a circle pit is about to erupt. It’s also when the band at their most Infest sounding. It eventually deviates into more delicious grinding-death though.
Honestly, with what’s on display here, Tokyo Gas Attack has the potential to become something more akin to Cognizant or Gridlink. They’ve got plenty of technical prowess buried beneath the rawness and to see them embrace that would be a helluva thing. They’re wearing a lot of influences right now and it won’t be surprising when they turn over a massive grind masterpiece.
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