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Brutal Truth > Perpetual Conversion > Reviews
Brutal Truth - Perpetual Conversion

i'm so sorry dan ;_; - 35%

Noktorn, November 26th, 2011

Dan Lilker seems like an incredibly cool guy from what I've read about him and interviews I've seen with him, and I have incredible respect for the guy for not only being there in the formative days of thrash metal, but continuing onward and showcasing appreciation for the more extreme styles of metal that came afterward. He's a guy that seems to intrinsically respect metal as a whole, and not just his particular pet interpretation of it. The man's been involved in heavy, thrash, crossover, death, black, and grind bands, among god knows what else in his lengthy discography, so it goes without saying that whether Lilker is a "real-ass nigga" (as I would be prone to describe such a state of being) is not even a question. He's the realest of the real. That being said, he's also a hilarious sort of oddball character who I find equal parts funny and invigorating to watch.

Lilker will basically join any band because he loves metal that fucking much, but I think that in most cases he's long on enthusiasm and short on songwriting chops. Now his work with Nuclear Assault is of course beyond reproach, but the vibe I get from his later projects is that they're more a celebration of different styles of metal rather than crucial parts of whatever genre they may fall into. Brutal Truth is one such band. While grind freaks tend to list Lilker's foray into the murky world of grindcore (which I'll say is about as daring and authentic a move on the part of an established metal musician as I'll probably ever see in my lifetime) as one of the defining parts of the US grind scene alongside bands like Repulsion and Terrorizer, I've simply never gotten that vibe. This is not to say that the music isn't perfectly well crafted or listenable- the band sure as hell knows how to make some grind exactly as it should sound- but it's also a bit forgettable and comes off to me pretty distinctly as more of a mix of other bands than an independent vision of its own. Basically, imagine that Lilker is your dad who's started listening to hip-hop just to see what those crazy kids are kicking out the jams to these days, but then he gets way, way more into hip-hop than you ever expected and starts buying different pressings of Krucifix Klan cassettes, and before you know it there's a 55 year old man shopping his CDr album "Mid-Life Crunkness" around to labels. It's perfectly well made, but you also realize that he never actually swears anywhere in the lyrics and pretty much just raps about reading the newspaper and cutting the lawn now that he's retired. I'm not sure where I'm going with this, but I'm convinced it pertains to "Perpetual Conversion" in some manner.

So this EP is basically the sister piece to the seminal (to someone) "Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses," but much less known and much less relevant. It's not a very substantial piece, frankly, with a big chunk of its running time dedicated to fairly pointless experimentation that comes off as earnest but ultimately kind of embarrassing. That being said, the two original Brutal Truth tracks are solid, if indicative of the band's problems in general. The title track is a very clear knockoff of Napalm Death, albeit a curious one since it sounds like material off "Utopia Banished," which puts it in a dodgy sort of geography with regards to release date. That aside, though, "Perpetual Conversion" comes off as a more US moshing hardcore-centric spin on Napalm Death, with a preponderance of midpaced Madball passages for breakdowns alongside some very listenable, uptempo grind in the traditional Napalm Death style, complete with a high/low vocal performance which comes dangerously close to owing royalties. "Walking Corpse" is a bit more comfortable to analyze, being pure US-style grind in the vein of Terrorizer with a bit of Repulsion's furtive, thrashy pacing. It's brief, aggressive, fast, and you won't remember any of it after it's done. And herein lies the problem with Brutal Truth's music: even at its best, it simply lacks personality when compared to the other major grind bands from the same era. I almost feel bad for them; there's nothing wrong with this music, but it's forcibly dwarfed by the sheer scale of the bands around it.

Although my pity does wane a bit when it comes to the rest of the tracks. The Sabbath cover doesn't really necessitate any evaluation, I don't think. The "extreme metal band covering Sabbath" process is something so laboriously embedded in the metal scene that it's basically a thing unto itself; like all those covers, it's pretty uninteresting, absolutely pointless, and really just a distraction from the actual grind you paid for. "Perpetual Larceny" is a cringe-inducing foray into electronic-industrial with growls and screams layered over it. Thumping dance beats and budget-priced synths are harnessed in the pursuit of... something, though I couldn't tell you what it is. I'm not sure I can even use the excuse of it being 1992 to defend this sort of thing; I understand that there was a point in the metal scene in the early-mid '90s where everyone sort of half-thought that electronic music was an unavoidable future, but even with that in mind it's almost inexcusably bad to the point where I would absolutely figure it a joke if it weren't 1992 and spearheaded by Dan Lilker.

And then there's "Bed Sheet," which is another bad track but kind of a good summation of Brutal Truth and Lilker's interpretations of extreme metal in general. "Bed Sheet" is a sort of shot in the dark grasp towards the Brutal Truth equivalent of "Evolved as One"; the plodding, Swans-influenced track that Napalm Death put one of on just about every album, the remarkable, enduring success of which is still something I have trouble explaining given everything I know about the metal scene. But anyway, "Bed Sheet" is Brutal Truth's attempt to do the same thing, and it fails pretty miserably, instantly communicating what's wrong with Brutal Truth in general. They had the right idea- slow, ominous, martial music combined with big stretches of noisy electronics and soundscaping- but where they went awry is in the fact that "Bed Sheet" only exists because "Evolved as One" exists, whereas "Evolved as One" exists because Swans exists- and, of course, because Napalm Death actually wanted to make that song, where Brutal Truth's interpretation feels more like fulfilling an obligation than anything. And so, the ultimate problem with Brutal Truth- it's a grind band doing the things it does because those things are "grind," rather than arriving at grind out of an organic process of creation. The graft lines are painfully visible all over the music, and it's incredibly hard to be engrossed in as a result. This EP somehow sounds like the comeback album of an early grind band released today rather than something which came out in '92.

I can't help but feel bad because shooting Brutal Truth in the face feels like shooting Daniel Johnston in the face- it's not like they don't have enough fucking problems already, and they didn't really do anything WRONG per se. Still, I feel like there's some sort of inherent dodging that goes on when people talk about this band, and all I can really say is that they never, to me at least, matched their hype. Frankly, I'm inclined to think that most people secretly feel the same way. Sorry Dan. Please let me know when you release "Mid-Life Crunkness," because I will absolutely buy the die-hard edition.

Unnecessary - 40%

MutatisMutandis, June 20th, 2008

...And here we have one of the earliest outputs in the vast compendium that is "Non-Essential Brutal Truth" - the Perpetual Conversion EP. It's always amazed me how much filler these guys arranged in their EPs and later albums, whether they be cover songs, noise tapestries, or tracks that would later be recorded in a higher fidelity for no discernible reason. Well, what do you know! This EP's a triple threat!

The opening eponymous track is undeniably great, and the vocal arrangements are perfect in their sense of controlled chaos while Hoak utterly buttrapes the drum kit. It ends leaving the listener wanting a greater fix, but in unfortunate Brutal Truth-fashion, a breakbeat arrangement of the same track under the guise of "Perpetual Larceny" trails behind. Expectedly, it's as lukewarm as the idea sounds, and completely dissipates the title track's momentum.

Track three is the classic fast-paced Walking Dead, which would later make its way onto their debut full length, and therefore takes no part in making this release in particular worthwhile. Following is an actually decent cover of Black Sabbath's Lord Of This World, and the solo translates suprisingly well to death-grind. Finally, the epic Bed Sheet kicks in and annoys the living fuck out of anyone in a 30 mile radius. It's just a long, mindless noise drone that no one in the market for grindy death metal could give a fracture of a shit about.

And um... that's all. Actually, track 4 is generally the end for me, since I've never bothered sitting through Bed Sheet again after my initial listen.
The single Brutal Truth release you cannot live without is Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Response. The potential shown on that release is mind numbing, and it's truly a shame they completely overthrew that style for an experimental grind/noisecore niche. Just download the 2 tracks exclusive to this EP I pointed out, and don't waste your time tracking a copy down.