Unreleased

This effort probably wasn’t going to see the light of day if it wasn’t for the untimely passing of Gerry Ouellette (R.I.P., 1994), the guitar player and one of the main brain cells in the band. His comrades pulled themselves together and released these six tracks as a commemoration gesture those supposed to be the backbone of the “Universe” sequel, the latter scheduled to appear some time in 1990/91. In other words, this material was created some five years before its actual emergence…

the question here is how worthy a follow-up this would have been to the stellar “Universe” if based on these compositions? To beat a work of art like the guys’ sophomore would take way more than the requisite display of talent… so were the creators themselves up to the task?

Well, judging by the score given here you probably already know the answer. If these numbers had been intended as a sequel to the debut then they would have worked like a charm, and some more. The thing is that they were all composed as potential entries in the band’s third, and under the circumstances it’s hard to praise them sky-high. It’s really difficult to pretend that an entire Universe doesn’t exist in order to asses this recording unbiasedly. And it would by all means have worked as a mediator between the two full-lengths, being under half an hour long and all, as it shares the rugged abrasive impetuousness of the first instalment by at the same time nodding boldly in the direction of the more complex, more expansive second coming.

Yes, this is the third coming alright also evident from the opener “Third Coming”, a dense non-fussy shredder with crunchy choppy rhythms, a nervy semi-technical representation carved by both curious impromptu-like lead sections and sudden speedy rushes. Not much to do with the multi-layered transcendental delivery of the preceding opus, sounding like a mutated more complex oddity from the debut, the impression heightened after “Brick by Brick”, a more intriguing, more hectically-executed number with a couple of mazey riff-patterns and twisted atmospheric pretensions. No, you can’t cross auteurs like this off the list after just one friggin’ track, this is way more like it, and with a few sirens thrown into the mix with “Siren's Song”, another entangled frantic tech-thrasher, the situation starts smelling universal canons and cosmic trajectories. No kidding, this last space tripper could have been left out of the “Universe” recording sessions due to its drier, more sterile veneer, with another leftover arriving right after, but from the debut, “Waste Not, Want More”, a more direct thrash/crossover roller-coaster which creates a feverish headbanging setting for a bit. The nods at the first instalment are through with that one “Rude Awakening” being another intricate twister recalling the guys’ compatriots Disciples of Power with the abrupt time and tempo shifts and the omnipresent stop-and-go gimmick. An eventful thrilling ride which finds its roots in “Root to All Evil”, a creepy atmospheric piece with Phil Dakin semi-whispering sinisterly to enhance the drama which surrenders to thick staccato rhythms and randomly applied speedy crescendos towards the end.

The eerie psychedelic aura from “Universe” is gone to a large extent. This is stiff (largely in a good way) bare-bones tech-thrash that doesn’t sound very classic anymore; in fact, it’s reminiscent of Meshuggah’s debut “Contradictions Collapse” only a tad warmer and more dramatic regardless of Dakin’s prodigiously dispassionate hardcore-ish, semi-declamatory baritone. If this stuff was indeed released in 1990/91 then we’re talking a near-pioneering endeavour in mechanizing the good old thrash without fully divesting it of the old school flair. Kudos for that. And it does work as a slow-burning, gradually-revealing stint: with each passing song your hopes are raised higher, the quality goes up as time goes by, with anticipation turning to giddy excitement in the middle, after the first three cuts have passed… but at the same time you know that with six compositions featured altogether there won’t be any time for this saga to hit the very top, especially with this wink at the debut that “Waste Not, Want More” is, and consequently a distinct follow-up to “Universe” this won’t be…

the chagrin left aside due to that last revelation, there must have been quite a few of the band fans to emit a cry/shout of jubilation when getting a hold of this effort back then. And it does remain a piece of Canadian metal history, an obscure posthumously released recording that doesn’t put its makers to shame, but shows them in a transitional vacillating period which still produced pretty decent fruit. One simply has to take it for what it is, a collection of non-universal musings, a concrete anti-fancy work that would have made more heads turn if released timely, at the dawn of the 90’s that is.

Dakin and the other guitarist Eddie Shahini have braced themselves for another spell, and the DBC saga may as well get extended soon… be it with another compilation of old unreleased mechanized hymns to our beloved Universe.

About one year back I was at this Galy Records token concert with about five of their bands, not all of them being awesome (especially live), and they gave everyone a free CD. Leftovers that couldn't sell I suppose… anyway I got DBC (Dead Brain Cells)'s third album, Unreleased. It's a good thing they were giving things for free because otherwise I'd have never bothered listening to this, although I wouldn't have missed out on anything extraordinary.

This album consists of six songs and clocks just around 26 minutes, which is pretty short for an album if you're not grindcore, punk or Gorgoroth. DBC play a type of decent yet somewhat…ordinary…thrash metal with some speed elements. The first song, Third Coming, is pretty similar to the five others as it is decent but nothing overtly special. The drumming is somewhat technical and suits the music rather well, although it gets repetitive after a while. Many riffs are somewhat memorable and do their job well but unlike the thrash metal that I really like (Sodom, Megadeth) nothing sticks in your mind after you've listened to either the song of the whole album. 26 minutes later and you're there, wondering, trying in vain to remember something special having happened.

Everything is, as I mentioned before, competent and it's put together all right, no evident technical or musical flaws (maybe the vocals at times) except it's so…generic. The vocals are usually decent, quite standard vocals you'd expect from a thrash metal band but, once again, nothing special may be mentioned here. Unfortunately with the lyrics involved the vocals sound cheesy and quite annoying at times, especially in the songs' choruses.

The album's lyrics are a varied lot, dealing with stuff which ranges from religious fakes posing as prophets (Third Coming) to hippie let's-all-unite-the-world stuff like on Brick by Brick, leftists revolting against their government and its wars (Rude Awakening) the usual egalitarian crap (Root to all Evil).

Overall I must say that while the first few listens of this album proved somewhat promising, as I delved deeper I found no real substance and only generic material dispersed between the occasional fun riffs (Siren's Song, for example). I'm glad I got this for free because there's a hell of a lot more interesting metal out there that I'd rather listen to and spend money on to get if necessary.