Animosity

I've been a fan of the Berzerker since the days of Dissimulate, but in recent years I've slightly lost interest in them. Maybe it's the fact that I've grown older and I am now less impressed by gazillion bpm blast beats than I was when I was 15 or maybe it's the fact that they've just grown stale. I'm not sure, it's probably a combination of the two. Although I'd always wanted to buy this album, it took a clearance sale in a firework shop with a bunch of hidden Earache CDs seized from a liquidation of Zavvi (including Streetcleaner as well) to make me buy it.

My one complaint with the Berzerker has always been that they simply rely on ultra blast in placement of actual memorable tunes. Yes, they do have memorable songs, but for every one of them there is three filler tunes. There was never really enough experimentation to warrant my long term attention. Yes, there was "Farewell" but it was a one-off really. Most of the songs I'd listened to sounded pretty similar. I felt there was never enough risk-taking going on, especially in a niche genre which they pretty much owned and had endless limits in terms of experimentation.

Well, this album is where the Berzerker formula has really come to fruition for me. We can see that the Berzerker have finally found their identity and a nice streak of bravery to go with it. Ironically, it's on their last release for Earache records where they've finally been able to progress from the aping of Carcass and incorporate elements of other Earache bands such as Bolt Thrower and Morbid Angel into their formula effectively. "False Hope" is awash with Bolt Throwerisms, as is the daring "Lonely World" which represents another bold step for the Berzerker into Doom territory, with marvellous results.

Another Earache band who is plundered for inspiration is At The Gates, especially on the track "Retribution". Now to hardened gorefreaks, the idea of the Berzerker playing Melodic Death Metal is enough to make them have a mini-sick moment. Well swallow that vomit back down, because you have nothing to worry about. It works very well. It's more of a case of At The Gates in a Berzerker context, than the Berzerker in an ATG context. The riffs are sped up to traditional Berzerker speeds with that ratatataratatataratatataratatata bass-and-snare combo, and the trademark gargling of Luke Kenny abounding all over.

In fact, it soon turns into a game of "guess the influence" with bands being infernally dug up and used before dissappearing as quickly as they came. Entombed and the Swedish DM scene on Eye For An Eye/Purgatory as well as Weapons Of War. Cathedral on "Lonely World". There's also the odd br00thul moment and the odd nod to their goregrind brethren thrown in for good measure but damn it, it all adds up to a fantastic mix.

Yes, there is a sense of repetition, but I certainly didn't get bored listening to it. The short length works in their favour also, as your mind doesn't have time to wander. The production is crisp and gleaming, the only slight reservation would be the bass drums, but everything is perfectly Berzerker. The artwork as well is top notch and possibly their finest yet along with World of Lies.

In essence, I think my main gripe with The Berzerker has always been that they've been a bit too juvenile musically to warrant my full admiration, but this is a giant leap from the days of the first two albums. The samples are all but gone, outside influences have been allowed to seep in, songs have been expanded from a minute long and they've finally manned up and shifted tempos a bit every so often. Granted, the sturm und drang of the techno blastbeats are still there, if they weren't it just wouldn't be Berzerker, but there's enough there to merit a recommendation in my book.

That said, there is definite room for improvement here. I'd like to see these guys do more stuff in the vein of Farewell, and definitely try and take some mroe influences from the masters of Industrial Death Metal/Grind, Godflesh. I'd also maybe like to see some more speedcore elements added in to make it even more unique, but these are minor grumbles. After this album came out, the Berzerker really did look like they were going up in the world, tours with Suicide Silence and Satyricon proved this, but then they totally dropped the ball by making their next (incredibly anticipated) release a self-released job which is near impossible to track down.

On this album, The Berzerker are honed and efficient, it's just such a shame that they had to abandon the good ship Earache which was destined to make them bigger than they have become. Perhaps if they can get a licensing deal, they can make it work, because The Berzerker are a rare band, along with Aborted, who've taken the Goregrind template and made it something fatter and better with epic production.

It’s difficult to find a phrase that truly describes what one hears from this band on this latest installment. “A bludgeoning barrage of brutality”, “a storm of blinding speed and fury” or “a bone-breaking blast of sonic bloodshed” would all fit both the sound and imagery present here, but there seems to be a bit more to the band than mere aggression. The songs are indeed fast and hard edged, but there is an underlying tuneful nature mixed in with the harsh shrieks and barks.

The employment of electronic percussion sounds is an interesting touch that differentiates the band from others in the Death/Grind style, although ultimately this works against the band as it robs the sound of its hard edge in several areas. “Heavily Medicated” and “Evolution” suffer the worst from the video game oriented electronic bass drum hits, almost canceling out the down tuned guitars. Other tracks have the beat box to a lesser degree, and although the occasional accent by the electronic sounds doesn’t really offend, it is hardly necessary with a drummer beating the same rhythm.

The drumming on here is pretty damn fast, among the fastest I’ve heard in my tenure as a speed metal fan. “Eye for an Eye” has a kick drum line so fast it is almost impossible to hear the separation of the attacks, coming across as a constant rumble. Most of the other songs on here are mostly fast with a few slow breakdowns, giving the album a uniform listen from start to finish, a flaw that is accompanied by many riffs that don’t develop at all, likely in order to make way for the drums doing so. The slowest song is the closer “Lonely World”, which has a decent doom riff at the beginning and ultimately proves to be the strongest on the album.

The vocals are almost completely unintelligible for most of the time, necessitating a lyric sheet, which the promo does not provide. But the manipulation of the various voice sounds on here is spot on. The chorus section of “Evolution” has a pretty memorable interchange which seems to match the tonal tendencies of the accompanying guitar and bass line. My biggest about toneless vocals is that they are often overdone and disjointed. In this case the vocals are quite over-the-top, but are very well organized and give the listener a structure to make the listen more memorable.

It is a good thing that this album is only 29 minutes long because I doubt most ordinary human beings would be able to handle 30 minutes plus of this much unleashed rage. Although I’m not really partial to the grind style of the metal spectrum, this is a pretty strong album that will undoubtedly please its intended audience and maybe win over a few. I just wish they would get rid of the techno drum sounds and vary the tempo a little bit more.

With so many bands out there now with the mask gimmick going for them (i.e. Slipknot, Mushroomhead) it is hard to look at these guys and not expect the same thing. They have a more evil look about their masks, but looks can be deceiving right? But once one hears The Berzerker, they should quickly realize that they are far from any of the other masked ones trying to make themselves.

Once hearing this album I realized a few changes. Whist they still retain their neck break speed and electronic drums, to me it sounded as if their guitars were not as "produced" per say, as in the previous albums. I also felt a much more pent up aggression in this album, like a fury trying to be let out. However, the biggest thing one will notice about Animosity is that the cheesy spoken samples are almost completely gone. This is a plus in my book, because while I found the samples in a few songs right at home (Deform, Cannibal Rights), the others just seemed like they were just there to fill space.

While the insanity of the techno industrial metal may be annoying and retarded to some, from what I’ve seen, a lot more really like it. I believe that this album is a great buy and I recommend it to any of those who love The Berzerkers previous work. As far as the ones who don’t like it, fuck it, your not forced to listen to it.

Animosity is by far the best Berzerker album, for it is a pioneer in the Berzerkers ways. It has incorporated so many changes and new techniques that for one to think it’s just the same shit over again, they are half past retarded. Even one that doesn’t like the music, if they are familiar with the old Berzerker, even they can say “well this is different from X, and they’ve changed Y a lot”. If Luke and the boys keep up their ways, they will definitely go down in the metal history books. Probably, more so than they already have.

Metal has been subjected to crossbreeding for decades. There are not many hybrids I would totally dismiss. From classical, to jazz, to Eastern traditional and the perfect marriage of folk and metal, there aren't many genres that haven't worked well, and I think most would agree. The only two failures that come to mind are of course rap, and this ... techno.

When people are trying this hard to be different, you know something's wrong. Some people simply can't accept the fact that they can't make good or original music. What kind of moron defecated this idea? Mixing techno drum sounds, blips and squeaks with cookie-cutter generic death metal.

This album is entirely consistent of rejected Morbid Angel and At the Gates riffs, and some tool who can blast really fast. In all seriousness, I don't think anyone could write more generic, weak, boring riffs if they tried. Many riffs are three notes, and repeat with "fast, then faster" drums behind them. The techno drum ... thing, sounds the same in every song. Making for so much monotony it's torturous.

As if the riffs being completely disposable crap wasn't enough, the techno drum sound takes away any darkness, aggression, or evilness this album might have had, because it sounds so goofy it's comical (or would be, if it wasn't so damn annoying). Thereby rendering playing fast pointless. Sure, the drummer is one of the faster drummers I've heard ... who cares? A good drummer is one that has a unique flair, compliments the music, fits the style, a drummer who helps carry the music and make it more interesting. Not play monotonous beats as fast as possible. Obviously the band expects the hyper fast drumming and the techno gimmick to compensate for (or distract from) the absence of talent or song writing ability.

Another worthless band with a gimmick.

I would assume anyone who knows The Berzerker can agree with me in saying the group is totally nuts. After all, can you name another death metal band that incorporates electronic styles in their music without sounding like shit? I sure can't. Anyway, The Berzerker has been gaining a lot of attention over the years and they make some new heads turn every time an album is released, but a wind of change is blowing toward The Berzerker's direction. Progression is shown as time passes in The Berzerker's career, but with "Animosity," the bar gets raised to what might be the group's finest hour.

With "Animosity," The Berzerker launches an onslaught of unforgiving death metal with the band's natural industrial influences. The opening seconds of the album's opener gives a massive blast of power with mutilating growls, shredding riffs, and drums that could make Hermes exhausted because of their blistering pace. The riffing has reached its climax of enjoyable aspects due to the modified speed, crushing distortion, and wide variety of sounds produced by this grinding annihilation. Everything from old-school death metal to melodic chops is portrayed with stunning skill and blazing agility. Luke Kenny's masterful growls remain an ear-splitting element of The Berzerker's already stellar product. Kenny's voice reminds me of Glen Benton's (Deicide) mixture of deep growls and deafening shrieks. Nothing sounds bad here; it's just quality death metal the way it sound be done.

The Berzerker’s habitual industrial parameters remain intact with the band’s advanced demonstration of merciless death metal. There is a slight electronic significance found in the bass (both guitar and drum) when the instruments eject a thundering blast of deep distortion with numbing speed. The sample found at the beginning of “Eye For An Eye” opens the album with a humorous anti-religous rant of man trying to get rid of Christians; this is the only pure sample throughout this album, which isn't like most Berzerker efforts, yet the band's focus on structured death metal with tiny industrial hits leaves any bad taste in the dust.

"Animosity" defines the skill and intensity that The Berzerker has been trying to do since 1995. The attitude and intelligence placed into this disc is an unmatched method that few groups could ever assemble or even consider. If you haven't had the chance or will to check out The Berzerker, this is your ticket to do so.

The first thing to mention about this album is that it came with a second disc which is a live performance by the band. This was a nice “free bonus” to get as I have been following the Berzerker for a couple of years and it was nice to hear some of my favourite tracks live, as they are unlikely to come to my part of the world soon. It is a nice, albeit short, summation of their best songs from their early days and the classic covers of Carcass and Morbid Angel go down well.

Now for the masterpiece that is “Animosity”. The first thing that many listeners will notice is the lack of the cheesy spoken intros to each and every track. There is only a short introduction to the first track, “Eye for an Eye” but that is it. That disappointed me as I found the voice clips on previous albums quite nifty but I suppose Luke may want to move away from that clichéd death metal template that he has set.

The music is as you’d expect it… electronic drums and insanely fast guitar shredding with two vocal passages from Luke. In a similar style to Glen Benton of Deicide, Kenny uses a high pitched shriek along side his death grunts to produce an unsettling vocal effect. The drums may get annoying for some but I find that they grow on you after time. I would agree with most however that the band would benefit from more “real” sounding drums. It may be hard to distinguish each track from the one before but this problem is not as bad as on previous albums. In fact, I think that this is the most varied Berzerker release to date.

Only four songs on the album stray over the three minute mark possibly the best thing for a cybergrind band like the Berzerker. Each song has a very “different” sounding riff which means that after a couple of listens, the strongest tracks can be picked out. The songs that immediately stand out would be the opener, “False Hope” (which has a strange tinge of “Creeping Death” to it) and “Heavily Medicated”. After about another twenty listens or so, some more classics like “Cancer” and “Weapons of War” become very catchy. This is not just a straight forward grindcore album; it grows on the listener long after the first time it’s placed back into the box. By the time you really get into the album, it’ll be hard to put back into its case, due to the fact that you’ll be in a headbanging-induced coma after the 30 minutes or so onslaught.

Earlier on, I used the word “masterpiece” to describe this record. Some of you may think that this is an overstatement but I think this has the potential to becoming a death metal classic. Fans of the bands’ older albums will be pleased but I think that a new wave of fans could also be attracted to this release. The Berzerker is never going to release a compelling and thought provoking album but they do know how to make us bang our heads. This is probably the release of the year so far and I would say that it’ll be in the top 5 come the end of 2007.

Picks: “The Cancer”, “Heavily Medicated” and “False Hope”.

I know that numerous people would disagree with me, but I've always found one of the most endearing aspects of The Berzerker is their ability to change with every album. God knows that they're clearly a radically different band from what they were originally. Just look at the path they've traced: from early vinyl EPs in the gabba/speedcore style, to the experimental band that seemed just as interested in noise as metal on the self-titled debut, to the pure industralized death/grind of 'Dissimulate', and then shocking everyone with 'World Of Lies'' shift to oldschool death metal stylings, albeit more technologically advanced. So, what could The Berzerker do to surprise everyone? Well, exactly what they always do: turn their winning formula right on its ass.

The first thing that struck me as opener 'Eye For An Eye' hit was how much more furious it is than the material on 'World Of Lies'. Whereas that album presents the most conservative, measured side of The Berzerker, this album contrasts by being completely unhinged and pummeling. A cursory look at the track listing can tell you how different it is: there's no twenty-minute instrumentals to be found here. The total running time clocks in at under a half hour, but damned if it isn't a half hour that's used to its fullest. The material on here absolutely never stops; it just give a periodic reprieve to make the return to brutality that much more devastating ('The Cancer'). Also unlike the previous album's emphasis on guitar, the sound here seems to be based on everything working together in an assault that would almost remind you of the focus of Sweden's Aeon were the kick drums not distorted 808s. And man, when it slows down, you know it: the closing death march of 'Lonely World' isn't something I'm going to forget for a while.

However, the loss of emphasis on guitar as the major medium of musical expression doesn't signify that it's gotten any less potent; quite the opposite, in fact. The fulminating invective of the riffs on tracks like 'Purgatory' shows an entirely new bite to the strings here. Much like the riffs on the self-titled album, they swing wildly between pitches and keys, but possess more fire and misanthropy than that album. It is indeed a fiery album, where everything seems ready to explode at any given moment (and it usually does). Luke's vocals have become even more extreme than before, and on tracks like 'Eye For An Eye' the speed of his delivery might eclipse even that of his legendary performance on 'Reality'. And on top of music as unendingly brutal as this, his words, always potently constructed, become that much more devastating.

As one could expect, The Berzerker have in no way disappointed on this album. Fans of the band, one of the most dedicated lots of any metal band today, should have snapped this up (especially the limited edition with an entire live set on a bonus disc) long ago, and any other fans of extreme music would in no way be dissuaded to do the same. Highly recommended.

(Originally written for www.vampire-magazine.com)

Australia’s The Berzerker is back and for the second straight album unmasked. Although the group has taken on more of an ordinary appearance, there is nothing ordinary about the music they create. The Berzerker is one of the fastest bands on the planet if not the fastest. With “Animosity” the group shows no sign of slowing down.

The Berzerker’s previous album “World of Lies” seemed nearly unmatched in pure speed, but “Animosity” appears to step up the speed factor even further into the realm of impossible fancy. “False Hope” shows the guitarists trying a new technique; at least I’ve never heard them try this before. They do an ultra fast slide into the high end of his fret. The speed picking is so fast it sounds like an outboard motor being pushed to its utmost limit before blowing up. They make use of this technique again in a short burst on “Weapons of War,” creating a rhythm so fast it could split molecules and obliterate everything for miles.

Drummer Dave Gray was rumored to be the fastest drummer in the world due to his breaking of the Guinness Book of World Records with an amazing speed of 19 beats per second. This turned out to be pure fabrication invented by internet users. With the incredulous speed displayed on “Animosity” is it easy to see how this rumor started. Gray does blast at an unrivaled velocity, and his drum rolls are at an otherworldly speed. Even though the rest of the best all play at dangerous speeds, Gray's impressive drumming serves as the foundation.

“Animosity” is without a doubt a true Berzerker album. All the traits that make this group so unique and great are present. As said before, the speed is unequalled. The kick drum still maintains its characteristic distortion, sounding like an attacking swarm of killer bees. In the tradition of grind legends Carcass, the vocals still trade off between screechy grind and growling death vocals, sometimes at a rate that would make the ordinary person puke up his larynx. And even though speed rules the day, they have no problem breaking it down to harder-than-granite grooves. Add a bonus live disc to the limited edition and I can truly say “Animosity” is the first great death/grind album of 2007!

originally published on www.metal-mayhem.co.uk