Contents Under Pressure

I like me some ruffian music every now and then. Especially if it is metal enough. My first contact with US Pro-Pain happened in 1992 when I saw their music video for 'Pound for Pound' from their debut album 'Foul Taste of Freedom'. I remember digging its grooves, but did not get the album. Their sophomore platter, 'The Truth Hurts' was released in 1994 and there was 'Make War (Not Love)' music video in circulation. It was way heavier and sounded more metal to me, and I got the album.

'Contents under Pressure' is Pro-Pain's third full-length album in steady release cycle of two years. I bought it, even though it looked lame after the previous album's murder victim and location photography. Well, the band's album art has hardly been swell since... Okay, let's dig into contents here.

The drums. They sound clicking. Especially on faster parts, they tends to clang like a drum machine.To this day, I still do not know if they are played or programmed. Every beat sounds like it was hit with exactly same amount of power. It is hard to say if Dan Richardson was really behind the kit. This choice, whether it's a machine or triggering or whatever, really broke the album for me.

I scorned and steered clear of this album for quite some time (my stereo system was lame, and made this sound even worse). It is the brutal truth, because the music-wise, this is damn kicking and awesome. I can listen to this now, thanks to stereo systems able to put out more meaty sound. Gary Meskil's bass guitar is rumbling as is his commanding, low barking voice. The guitars by Tom Klimtchuck and Rob Moschetti are crunchy and sharp. I guess the drums sound this way so they stand out from other instruments.

Gary & Dan had been in Crumbsuckers before forming Pro-Pain. They never abandoned their hardcore roots, but strengthened the thrash metal attribute more and more with their new band. They got Moschetti from M.O.D., but there's really not that much of lead guitar work here, so it was to bolster the riffing more like. And it can be heard. It's truly mauling at times, with the hefty bass guitar beating brains into pulp. The half-thrash and hardcore riffing is catchy as fuck with fantastic driving rhythms, be it fast mincing or slower banging. The band does this very well indeed, no matter how them drums sound like (they are okay for most part now, but there's some facepalm moments for sure). Gary's vocals sound more like human this time around; maybe 'The Truth Hurts' style which was truly throat-lacerating, was simply too much in the long run?

The album works for its driving and catchy music, and I think the band honestly managed to pen some of their greatest tunes for this album, both punch-in-whang and anthemic. Pro-Pain is one of the most fluid hardcore bands for a metal fanatic, because of the brutal vocals, too. It is bludgeoning and groovy, and beckoning for a mosh pit!

Some extra information: The bonus track 'Pound for Pound' does not sound good. I mean it sounds muffled, like a bad MP3 file. They mix itself contains typical rap music scratching and some industrial sounds. (With Homer Simpson voice:) Boring! Not worth hunting down the limited digipak edition for this bonus piece alone. Plus, the digipak does not include that funny old photo where the band was manipulated into. I understand the censoring 'The Truth Hurts' artwork, but this is just lame. Well, the limited tin box edition does not include anything but the CD! Reissues have edited versions and live cuts, but no lost studio songs...

(Originally written for ArchaicMetallurgy.com)

I think I've isolated the biggest problem I have with Pro-Pain on nearly all their albums: the drumming. It took a few spins for me to notice it, but Pro-Pain's sound suffers massively from the overly restrained, rock-based drumming that dominates the rhythm section. Meaty, powerful riffs are castrated by a lack of intensity, moments of what would be dense chaos are replaced with airy, sluggish, tentative tapping- it's perhaps the single biggest problem that's plagued Pro-Pain's career. This isn't to say that with a better drum presence their music would be saved, but it's with albums like "Contents Under Pressure" that I wonder what could have been. I'm surprisingly comfortable with saying that this album has some spots of genuine quality on it; of Pro-Pain's early period, this is probably the most tolerable and consistent album they produced. It's not without its flaws (many,) but what's more dissatisfying about this album than merely being mediocre is how it's kneecapped at every turn by dumb decisions that other bands would have easily sidestepped.

This is the point in Pro-Pain's career where the rock influence becomes predominant; frankly, this album has more in common with hard rock than hardcore, and much to my chagrin, it's generally to the album's benefit. By letting the cocky swagger of post-Guns 'N' Roses riffcraft hang out in full, Pro-Pain instantly develops a thousand times more personality than they had on their first couple full-lengths. The natural sluggishness of the band's music (at least at this point in their discography) lends itself much better to this beefed-up hard rock sound than the half-hardcore they specialized in before. While many of the tracks can tend to drone, the simple, engaging riffs and relatively focused song structures keep this much more interesting than albums like "The Foul Taste of Freedom."

Of course, nothing good said about Pro-Pain comes without a catch- usually several. Apart from being crippled by a borderline nonexistent drum presence, the incredibly dry, reedy production that afflicts all of Pro-Pain's early work strikes again, and perhaps in a more devastating manner than ever before. The thin, midsy guitar tone and flabby (oddly electronic-sounding) drums tend to turn what would otherwise be solid, enjoyable hard rock songs into withered parodies of their ideals. Metal, hardcore, and hard rock are not genres which typically thrive off an excess of empty space in the production, and that's what "Contents Under Pressure" has more than anything: empty space. Every note sounds like it's being played in a warehouse of some kind- not echoing dramatically, mind you, but sort of evaporating into nothing. The sound has no staying power, and the already middling music (courtesy of the substandard drumming) does very little to ameliorate this deficiency.

"Contents Under Pressure" is in some ways the most frustrating of Pro-Pain's early works because the potential within it is so readily apparent. Unfortunately, due to a hesitant percussive section and atrocious mixing job, what might have been the band's first shot at glory just becomes a somewhat more successful than usual failure. The standard advice for this era applies: if you truly need to explore Pro-Pain, start with "Act of God" and proceed forward from there.

What can said about Pro-Pain? They make heavy metal and every album is great! They dont change their formula, and why should they? Every release is really worth your money!

Contents under Pressure starts with Crush. Great song with nice riffs and the chorus you will be singing all day; I'm gonna crush, kill,destroy!

Shine is more a punk/hardcore song, also filled with nice riffs. Crush, This song has a groove feeling but still has a good tempo.
Gunya Down and The mercy killings have a crossover sound. Contents under Pressure is a standard Pro-pain track. Against the grain has a real nice intro, starts of a little slow but gets faster during the track, more a groove track.

Box city is the fastest track of this release, really fuckin great riffs! Odd man out is also an enjoyable track. The album finishes with Political Suicide, great track with some hardcore breakdowns but still thrashy!

Overall this is just an great album! Just like all the other Pro-Pain releases. If you get the chance to see them live, then don't hestitate, I'm sure you will enjoy it!!

Epic, this album is not. But it's great, solid heavy fucking metal, and at times very nice and thrashy. In any case, the album is entirely supported by a sequence of solid, heavy, headbangable riffs, and pretty much goes from point A to point Z without stopping to suck in the middle.

The album manages to accomplish a great sense of groove without fucking around with loser ideas like half-thrash riffs in the vein of "Walk" - the riff work is solid... generally a bit above midpaced. Imagine one long Nuclear Assault thrash break, this is it.

The problem the album suffers from is that it tends to get weaker from beginning to end... the strongest songs are definitely the first two, "Crush" and "Shine". There are definitely highlights among the entrails as well, though - such as the bludgeoning "Against the Grain", or the nice fast riffing of "Box City" in the pre-chorus parts.

Is this a punk album? At times the stylistic tendencies are punkish. But it's old-school punk like the Ramones, none of this new "core" bullshit like Hatebreed or any of this crap. This doesn't grate, and it is 100% metal, and will cause you to bang your head. It is yet another in the series of decent Pro-Pain albums, not too different than what came before it or after it. They do what they do, and they do it well. Recommended.