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Wehrmacht > Shark Attack > Reviews
Wehrmacht - Shark Attack

Shark Attack!!!!!!!!!!!!! - 100%

cravingforvenom, October 1st, 2009

A question popular among followers of thrash metal is undeniably this, “Which is considered the fastest thrash metal album of all time?” There would be a high percentage of answers supporting Reign In Blood, Darkness Descends, Pleasure To Kill or even Eternal Nightmare. Now here’s a startling reality. Wehrmacht’s debut album makes those albums sound as if they were meant to be listed under progressive metal. The sheer ferocity of these guys is enough to convince you why they were considered the fastest heavy metal band in the underground. And if that wasn’t enough, here’s another interesting fact. Les Evans of speedcore veterans Cryptic Slaughter described Wehrmacht once as "the only band that I ever saw blow Slayer offstage." As opposed to people titling them as crossover thrash, I would claim that these lunatics were musically pure thrash and only some of their lyrical themes offered hints of crossover much akin to Suicidal Tendencies or D.R.I.

So what is it that makes this record worthy of being called an underground classic? Right from production to musicianship, the concoction of several different ideas results into one colossal and inevitably unique style of their own. Their love for Gore flicks, lucky lager beer and hardcore punk provided them enough cannon fodder for their musical content. Many of you would probably wonder that there might just be a natural leaning towards sloppy playing especially considering my description of their astoundingly fast nature earlier. But the major surprise here is that all the musicians are extremely tight and precise with no single riff, solo or beat falling out of place. The bass lines carried out by Shann Mortimer are crystal clear and heavy as hell.

Okay, but what about the vocals? The man behind the microphone, Tito Matos is one of the most versatile thrash singers I have ever heard till date. His clarity of words and ability to keep up with the rest of the band with his lightning fast singing is simply commendable. The drummer on the other hand, Brian Lehfeldt, who also played on Cryptic Slaughter’s “Speak Your Peace” album, must have been one of the fastest skin pounders of his time. His outrageously fast paced drumming, virtually a combination of both D-beat and blastbeat was a key factor in the band’s sound. I was also told that these guys’ average age was 17 or 18 when this album was recorded. Wow!!! Death Angel and Acrophet stand nowhere.

The songs in here are all ridiculously speedy pieces of thrash metal with practically little or no remorse for the listener. The title track with that brilliant rendition of the famously eerie Jaws theme kicks off the onslaught with a tearing main riff that shreds away with speed and precision. The one track that stands out is “S.O.P” where they truly challenge the speed of sound. In the final moments of the song when Tito yells “On your Marks, Get Set, Go!!!!!!!”, the band hits top gear and cranks out stuff even grindcore bands would find hard to pull off.

Two tracks namely “Barrage of Skankers” and the cult classic “United Shoebrothers” have incredible thrash breaks and lyrics with the former justifiably dealing with the slaughtering of poseurs and wankers. The other track that has one of the coolest opening riffs ever is “Napalm Shower”. The instrumental piece “Fretboard Gymnastics” showcases the technical proficiencies of both the guitarists Sharko and Duffy, and they nail some of the craziest solos and clean sections with absolute ease. The only throwaway track around is the amusing “Puke” which was intentional and not meant to be taken seriously.

Teutonic, bay area and a few east coast thrash metal bands have been instrumental in forging the whole genre altogether but taking the intensity a couple of notches higher was undoubtedly achieved by bands like Cryptic Slaughter, Soothsayer and finally Wehrmacht. For a year that was 1987, “Shark Attack” was way ahead of its time and has been highly regarded as the release that influenced many a band in the grindcore and black metal genres. To testify this statement of mine, U.K grindcore pioneers Napalm Death have covered Wehrmacht on one of their studio compilations, thus proving the exemplary effect this band had in the years to come.

Yet the irony still stands out as to why only the most devoted of thrash metal freaks know about this band. Now that they’ve reunited, they’ll hopefully make up for all the fame that they lost out on in the late 80s and 90s, when the alternative scene took over. As for some of you guys, quit wasting your time listening to the senseless offshoots of grindcore and shitty black metal and get a hold of this classic instead. With an ultra cool band logo and one of the best album covers, showing a dude surfing on two killer sharks, get ready for a sans warning SHARK ATTACK!!!!!

Hyper Blasting Crossover - 85%

CHRISTI_NS_ANITY8, September 5th, 2008

Hailing from Portland, Oregon Wehrmacht are considered to be one of the most overlooked realities in crossover. As you know, the term “crossover” means an imaginary line that binds together different genres and in this case we are talking about the thrash metal and the hardcore/punk. The biggest bands were already famous in this period and I’m talking about the various S.O.D., Suicidal Tendencies and so on, while this band always remained in an “almost forgotten” status, increasing the curiosity of the various avid collectors of forgotten albums and lovers of primordial ferocity.

In the line up we could find members of Spazztic Blurr and Cryptic Slaughter, so you already can imagine what you are going to find on this album. The tempo in the songs is always high and the thrash/hardcore component is always mixed perfectly in wise dosages so any fan of the two genres could be happy. The title tracks begins with the dark, dramatic theme song by the movie Jaws (1975), but this time done by the guitars and I must admit it’s cool and well played, but only going on we can really taste the group’s power on the up tempo section and on the fast, open chords riffage.

These guys are really pissed off and we can’t rest even for a second because the iconoclast fury submerges us through punkish, schizophrenic vocals and top speed parts. While “S.O.P.” features, for example, more high-punk impact by the riffs, in “Jabberjaw” we can also find more “mature” approaches in the riffs with more palm muting parts and various tempo changes that follow the fast bass drum patterns. The production, as you can imagine, is total rawness even if the riffs and the instrument in general are really well audible. What counts here is the impact and the brutality. Nothing else.

In “Barrage of Skankers” we reach the limit to blast beats but it’s normal here and more or less these attacks can be found quite often and spread all around the tracks. They generally last for few seconds and they are broken by up tempo sections. The lead guitars at the beginning of “Part II” are somehow more mature and they appear sporadically but soon they are erased by a terrific dose of nastiness and brutality. “Anti” to me is the most “brutal thrash” oriented track even if the vocals and some more punkish riffs pull it in the crossover area once again. “Frettboard Gymnastic” makes no sense with the acoustic arpeggios to break the electric guitars parts.

When you reach the end you are truly stunned. This is a truly violent effort. These guys are full of energy and will to destroy and you can hear it well; anyway I didn’t find “those stand out tracks” I could find in Speak English or Die, for example. Sorry, but this album to me lacks a bit of catchy parts. The violence itself is exceptional but at the end I can remember just few parts and all seems a bit too monolithic. I don’t know if you can understand but don’t worry because are just personal thoughts and every fan of crossover can enjoy it without fears. It’s a massive demonstration of sonic violence in a magic period.

Whoa, this is fast - 90%

OakenHelm, May 8th, 2008

Wehrmacht are completely awesome, and if you don't agree you're a poser and should smash your stereo right now. Self-proclaimed "beercore," Wehrmacht is super-fast thrash from the classic era of the style. These guys almost never let up; why couldn't all thrash have been this awesome? As an added plus, Wehrmacht have a goofy sense of humor and have no qualms about showing it, but unlike Spazztic Blurr (which several of these guys also played in), the humor is confined mostly to the lyrics and doesn't overpower the music and make it completely retarded.

While the cover art and humor would make one assume this is a sloppy record, this couldn't be further from the truth. These guys can seriously rip your face off, and have the chops to back their music up. Just listen to the barrage of riffs in the opening song once the intro ends; it's NUTS.

Describing this album is pretty simple: mostly short songs, pummelling thrash riffs, wild, speedy solos, an absolutely frantic drummer (this guy is simply inhumanly fast behind the kit), and a completely incomprehensible vocalist. I have no idea how the man says this stuff so quickly, it's amazing. His voice is a very stereotypical thrash shout, but then again, Wehrmacht are a band that proves stereotypical thrash is awesome, so if you have a problem with it, fuck off. Production is kinda flat, but then again, this is an 80s album made almost certainly on a low budget (too much money spent on beer, I guess).

A short, simple review for a short, simple album. This is what thrash is really all about. Put down your retro-thrash revival BS bands for a second and pick this up, and while you're at it, pick up the second album, "Biermacht." Most people say the second album is better, but the blinding speed of this album trumps the still awesome follow-up in my book. Buy this right now.