Let's see here… Two vocalists, noisy as hell, short/fast songs, with a harsh punk attitude and a strong perchance for grindcore. Guess Extreme Noise Terror has a new album out.
Ipswich, England's Extreme Noise Terror are about as prolific and influential as any band can get. One of crust's biggest influences, the band has taken its punk attitude and beaten their sound time after time through the grime of grindcore, with splashes of death metal. Though they don't release music as frequently as when they first started out, the band will always be synonymous first and foremost with the crust genre.
You want to listen to this album is going to hinge on one thing: how much do you like Extreme Noise Terror? Perhaps the bigger question for a lot of folks is going to be what era of ENT this sounds like? This is an extremely punk/grind driven album. A heaviness is still present, yes, but Extreme Noise Terror is one of the purest hardcore/punk driven albums the band has ever releases. It's like the 80s exploded all over this album, and whether that has something to do with nostalgia the extremely unfortunate passing of Phil Vane back in 2011, I don't know. But, hot damn is this album punk.
And what better way to start the album than with a song entitled “Punk Rock Patrol.” It only drives the point home further. The piece is loud, noisy, but retains that hardcore/punk push. The riffs and drums are straight forward and the duel vocal assault of Dean Jones (Disgust) and Ben McCrow (The Rotted/Gorerotted, and also Phil Vane's replacement) serves to intensify everything. It's the kind of thing that you can see pits exploding to. And its got old school tendancies to boot.
Now here's the thing that remains true throughout the entire album: true to it's crust/grind/punk aesthetics the album is everything I just told you about. Hell, it's all summarized in this paragraph's prior sentence: crust/grind/punk. Had ENT called the album that it would have summarized everything you knew you were walking in to. It's not much a rehash of Law of Retaliation, but more like a fat trimming of that album with an even rawer vibe.
At twenty-six minutes, the fourteen track bruiser cruises by. There's loud, abrasive noise sections here. A simple guitar solo/riff there. Plenty of speed to be had, as has been established. Does Extreme Noise Terror do the band's legacy justice? Hell yeah. It stands up to its old releases and feels like a real return to a no bullshit era. Extreme Noise Terror is an album that's got personality to boot and crust peeling off of its sides. It's one of the best and harshest albums in the band's roster; even one of it's most focused. It isn't trying to be something it's not. It's heart is in the right place. Those that love crust are probably already on top of this. Even if you're lukewarm on the genre and dig yourself a banging piece of old school grind/crust, Extreme Noise Terror still got it. And still play it better than most other bands out there.
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