The Curse of Martha Splatterhead

Formed in 1981, The Accused was one of the original crossover bands starting life as a punk rock band before steadily incorporating sounds from the hardcore and heavy metal scenes. The band released 5 albums between the mid 80s and early 90s and even had one genuine classic in More Fun than an Open Casket Funeral (1987). The band reformed and released another album, Oh Martha! in 2003 which doesn’t really stand up.

Now in 2009, the band is back with only main man Tommy Niemeyer left from the original line up. I didn’t have particularly high expectations for this one but all my pre conceived notions went out the window as the opening song The Splatterbeast is a terrific reminder of what The Accused used to be capable of. The songs on this new album are fucking kickass. There really is no other way to describe it. Whether it’s the catchy as fuck groove on Hemline or the straight out crossover of Stomped to Death this band is on fire for the duration of this album. It’s a bit pointless mentioning individual songs because each one of these 14 songs kick ass.

The method is the same too as each song is propelled along by Niemeyer’s riffs which go from thrash to hardcore to punk with ease and he even slips in the odd sloppy solo which works superbly in the context of these songs. The man is ably backed up by the new rhythm section Dorando Hodous on bass and Mike Peterson on drums. I don’t know where these two came from but they play like they were meant to be in this band. New vocalist Brad Mowen may not be a Blaine Cook but his performance on this album is also spot on as he goes through yells, a rough singing voice and a rasp that all fit in perfectly with these songs.

The Curse of Martha Splatterhead works because this is what crossover was supposed to sound like. The sound is sloppy, heavy and backed up by some truly killer riffs. Is this album on par with the bands work from the 80s? I don’t think so although that probably has more to do with when it was recorded than the quality of the music. It is still a very creditable album though and as far as this whole retro thrash/ crossover fad goes, The Accused has made an album that is everything the new Municipal Waste wants to be.

Originally written for http://www.kvltsite.com