Pissing Razors

In the mid to late 1990's it became something of a trend for the later crop of post-thrash bands to inherit some of the traits of mallcore, a concept that was picking up steam around that time thanks to Korn and The Deftones. This usually resulted in post-thrash minus guitar solos or anything resembling ideas, ideas that made Machine Head, Pantera, Fear Factory, and Overkill's albums in that style interesting to listen to from time to time. The end result were repetitive, mind numbing groups that put very little effort in their music and instead threw out boring ass groove songs that was as entertaining as watching the grass grow in your front yard. Bands like Skinlab and Killing Culture were then born and brought into popularity. Yet not all late 90's groovers were created equal, or equally bad in this case. Pissing Razors was one such band.

Now, the thing that caught my attention about this band was the name. Its not every day you encounter a name like "Pissing Razors," which boggled my mind as to what musical stylings lay in store. The cover was pretty dull, as were the song titles, but hell, it was $3 at a discount store I frequented as a high schooler. I spent those precious paper earnings of a capitalist society, and retired to my CD player to give it a spin. What I originally heard didn't gel very well with me, considering I was on a "Darkness Descends" and "Rust In Peace" mania at the time. I shelved it, and didn't listen to it again for a good two years.

Upon "re-discovering" this album, I began to fully understand what was at play here. Whereas Skinlab spent their time boring the listener to death with the stagnated groove of "Bound, Gagged, and Blindfolded," Pissing Razors instead focused on something different. Yes, there is a lack of guitar solos here, and yes the vocalist shouts forth that stereotypical post-thrash voice of hardcore barking. Joe Rodriguez isn't a particularly outstanding frontman, and you can definitely hear the Burton Bell, Rob Flynn, Max Cavalera (circa "Chaos A.D.") and Phil Anselmo influence in there. He isn't as good as any of those guys were, but he isn't overly terrible. Considering a good deal of these songs are enjoyable for what they are, I can't say as that I spend alot of time being annoyed by his refusal to include more variations in his vocal display.

The music on "Pissing Razors," while forever locked in the world of mid-tempo post-thrash, has some saving graces. For one, there are some meaty riffs being played here. No drab, dull, lame ass nonsense that always dragged Skinlab into the depths of mediocrity. This album is very riff driven, and this band was smart enough to keep the song lengths short, most of these are under or right at three minutes. This is ideal territory for post-thrash, as it prevents the novelty of the riffs from disappearing and turning this listen into a chore to bear. In addition, the drum work is also commendable, and the sound quality of this album brings these two positive aspects to the forefront, which helps you forget all about the lesser and forgettable peers this band inhabited the latter 90's with.

Since none of these songs seek to break the mold of short and structured songs, I don't feel the need for any real depth into track by track analysis. I will say that I particularly found the hardcore-ish opener in "Dodging Bullets" to be quite charming, again pulling off a short song length (3 and half minutes) while throwing in some catchy sections. "Broken Trust," the closer, does this in a similiar fashion. I also found "Permanent" to be quite entertaining, which founds like it could have fit very well onto "Demanufacture," but I'd even go so far to say it outclasses some of the songs found on that album. Most of the other songs here are in a similiar vein, short but good post-thrash tunes that don't wear out their welcome. The only song I didn't care for was "Silent Hatred" and its homeboy encounters with some rap influences rearing their ugly head. I realize it was 1998 and that was a cool thing to do then, but it causes me to mark down what was otherwise a commendable effort.

While "Pissing Razors" will not win any awards from me or anyone else as an exceptionally awesome metal album, I can't find much to complain about. If anything, "Pissing Razors" did what no other post-thrash band could do: write an ideal album in that genre that played off the good aspects of it without introducing much of the bad. This is something that none of the post-thrash bands could do, as both Machine Head and Pantera were guilty of it at some time. The band was smart enough to keep their songs simple and short, exactly the way this genre is meant to be played. The vocalist gets a little annoying at times, but the riffs are strong as is the drum work and production. If you're absolutely sick of the crappy incarnations of modern groove metal, reach for the past in "Pissing Razors." Its not essential nor timeless, but its a damn fine release that can challenge even the leaders of this genre.

This is one decent sounding album in comparison to the rest of their monotonous catalogue. As described in the title, this album is basically a hybrid of Vulgar display of power and Demanufacture. Not necessarily a bad thing. This album is also the bands most consistent in terms of sheer catchiness from song to song. There are definately many monstrous riffs that are absolute ear candy, as well as some of the incredible drumming that stems mostly from the double bass department. The vocals can be somewhat overbearing at times, but in all actuality they're no worse than Burton Bell's or Phil Anselmo's last few years in Pantera.
Lyrically, the songs themselves are derived from many cool topics, including; media, injustice, drug abuse, violence and hatred. Basically your run of the mill metal topics. There some humors moments as well like in the song Silent Hatred("sittin' in my room starin' at the wall, drunk off the brew...wired off the 8 ball"). The production value is very good. This album packs as much of a punch as did Machine Head's Burn My Eyes, and even though many people condemn Machine Head, one simply cannot deny the production value of their first effort. I suppose the only real letdown with this album is the fact that there are no guitar solos. Make no mistake though, this is nothing close to being nu-mental, which I know is famous for exluding guitar solos, based on the fact that most of the players in that genre are incapable of soloing. I think that this album is simply more geared toward the groove aspect of things and the overall "crunch" of the songs.
This album also has the best ensemble of players that Pissing Razors has ever had working together simultaneously.
Very decent album, gets spun at least 3 or 4 times a year.