Bigger than the Devil

Normally when a band evolves and uses 'humour' in their music they go from juvenile to adolescent humour at some point. In the case of S.O.D. however it is the other way around. S.O.D.'s "Speak English or Die" had a tongue in cheek adolescent quality to it. Not even everybody 'got it'. And I'm talking about the more racial and social aspects of the album written from the point of view of an imaginary character of course. Not the juvenile songs about menstruation.

But we're talking about 'Bigger than the Devil' now. The second S.O.D. album which came 14 years after the debut. In retrospect called a cashgrab by many. Because Anthrax was at an all time low at that point, also and perhaps especially financially. As Billy Milano said: "Scott called me up begging for me to do S.O.D. because the IRS took his house for back taxes. The funny thing is Scott and Charlie are gonna be kissing my ass again to do S.O.D. after Anthrax takes its finale gasp and dies". This second incarnation of S.O.D. collapsed again in 2002 after Milano left the group blaming for instance the total disrepect of fans by Ian & Benante. This is not quite a secret.

And it's not that this 'cashgrab' feel toward this reunion album ruins my enjoyment entirely but it's mostly because the album has a godawful amount of filler.

What are the good songs here? 'Shenanigans', 'The Crackhead Song', 'Kill The Assholes', 'Xerox', 'Make Room' and 'Every Tiny Molecule' for sure. These are the songs worthy of the S.O.D. legacy

There is a fair amount of 'decent' crossover songs here: 'Monkeys Rule', 'Bigger The The Devil' , 'Black War', 'We All Bleed Red' and 'Moment of Truth'. They're al decent and enjoyable they don't really stand out in any way. 'Free Dirty Needles' even feels like a song which could have been on M.O.D.'s 'Rhythm of Fear'. My point is, the majority of thrashing crossover songs never exceeed the post-Gross Misconduct M.O.D. level. Enjoyable but average crossover. Billy did not need the almighty S.O.D. for this.

Regarding the short 'funny' songs there is even a lot of crap as well. I mean, what the fuck are L.A.T.K.C.H. + Frankenstein And His Horse? They're not even funny guys. Short nothingness really. Fortunately we have 'King at the King' , 'Skool Bus' 'Celtic Frosted Flakes', 'Ballad of Michael H' and 'Ballad of Phil H' to give the 'fun' side of this album at least some credibility!

So, 'Shenanigans', 'The Crackhead Song', 'Kill The Assholes', 'Xerox', 'Make Room', 'Every Tiny Molecule', 'King at the King', 'Skool Bus' 'Celtic Frosted Flakes', 'Ballad of Michael H' and 'Ballad of Phil H' are the only things which make this album worth keeping. We're talking 11 of out 23 songs here. And a lot I mentioned are the shorter ones. Maybe hardly enough to fill a sweet little EP.

I just have to mention 'Aren't You Hungry' now, don't I? I do.... Well if you ever re-issue this album please REMOVE it!
It is the 'original' version? I do not care! It sucks. It ruins my enjoyment of listening to Anthrax' 'Imitation of Life' and I'll take U.S.A. for M.O.D. over this album every fucking day for the rest of my life !

Sorry S.O.D. but 70% of this album just is crap compared to what Speak English Or Die has meant to the world. Cashgrab? You decide. But a bad album for sure!

Stand outs
Shenanigans
The Crackhead Song
'Kill The Assholes
Xerox
Make Room
'Every Tiny Molecule
King at the King
Skool Bus
Celtic Frosted Flakes
Ballad of Michael H
Ballad of Phil H'

Stormtroopers of Death (S.O.D.) was a side gig started by Scott Ian of Anthrax and include fellow band mate, Charlie Benante on drums and bassist, Dan Liker from Nuclear Assault. The band was an outlet of sorts for Ian’s hardcore/crossover affinity to which they included a heavy dose of fun and humorous anecdotes. They released their debut album “Speak English or Die” in 1985 and then went on a very long hiatus until 1999, when band would put out their sophomore effort, “Bigger Than the Devil”.

The sound on “Bigger than the Devil” is a straight forward brand of crossover thrash, while being sure to keep true to the hardcore side of the genre. The riffs are rather forgettable as they do little to hook the listener and even when you do recognize them, they are very catchy. There are minimal rhythms and harmonies to be had, along with a noticeable lack of shredding solos. To say the guitars were a disappointment would be an understatement. Aside from his legendary work with Anthrax, I would have expected more from Ian, as many other crossover acts such as Pro-Pain have numerous solos and catchy riffs that made their music so much more memorable.

The drumming on the other hand, is pretty solid. I will say that the beats create a nice rhythm for the majority of the songs, that carry what little force this album contains and helps keep some relevancy. Billy Milano’s vocals are a nice fit for the genre in general and are also a bright spot on the album. They are fast and fierce, everything you’d expect from the hardcore/crossover sound. I especially enjoyed the song “We All Bleed Red” as it featured, Roger Miret of Agnostic Front. As for the song writing, well the lyrics are foolish and stupid, just the way SOD intended. Even though the music does not live up to expectations, the underlying humor comes through clear enough like on “Celtic Frosted Flakes” or “King at the King / Evil”

Overall, “Bigger than the Devil” does not hold up to “Speak English or Die”. The music is is pretty bare bones, simplistic in nature and rather lacking, which makes for a dull final product. It by no means is bad, but I think this could have been so much more with a little more time invested in the song writing and instrumentation. As it is, you certainly get a chuckle out this album for all the right reasons and fans of crossover will find enough to enjoy during their listen. At the end of the day, this is humor metal in vain of a GWAR, Haunted Garage or Green Jello. Fans of either might find more in the songs than I, but other than that, I would stick with their debut.

Highlights: “We All Bleed Red” “Kill the Assholes” “Shenanigans”

Into the Abyss of Oblivion

Fourteen years after S.O.D. released their debut studio album "Speak English or Die", they decided to issue a follow-up in the form of "Bigger than the Devil". By this time, a lot had changed when it comes to the music style that they fabricated since the aforementioned debut. The groovy frenzy that Pantera started after their "Cowboys from Hell" album had a very lucid impact on this sophomore release by S.O.D. And that influenced was the reason why "Bigger than the Devil" failed to satisfy most fans of the band.

Many fiends of the metal genre had always assumed that Stormtroopers of Death can always find a loophole in the ears of the critics. The reason behind this assumption is the fact that their compositions were always about parody and humor. But their jokes and witticism weren't able to save them this time around; as the old saying goes, 'Assumption is the mother of all failures.'

Despite the fact that this record was unsatisfactory, it did have memorable tracks that reminded me of the band's glory days. Tunes like 'Kill The Assholes', 'Shenanigans', 'Moment of Truth', and 'Monkeys Rule' has those feisty and bellicose thrash-oriented riffs that showcase Scott Ian's virtuosity in producing catchy guitar improvisations. In addition to those songs is the track 'Aren’t You Hungry'. The said song is comprised of crunchy and mid-paced quality riffs brought to us by Scott, added with some twisted and pounding bass lines administered by Dan, and every so often appended with some pretty swift drumming from Charlie.

The rest of the album isn't that convincing anymore, as it displeased many of their adherents including yours truly. I used to believe that Stormtroopers of Death are one of those super-groups that will never fail to entertain the zealots of the genre, but this album disclosed that impression.

For the most part, "Bigger than the Devil" is an offering that lacked the quality of what the band was able to assemble back with "Speak English or Die". It utterly flunked to fulfill my hopes and expectations for a prominent comeback from the band after years of hiatus. I don't suggest you people to pick this one up, unless you are one of those who does not care about a record's inadequacy. I'm sorry Billy, but it's just not good enough.

Stormtroopers of Death were never the most serious thrash/crossover band. And that’s saying a lot, all things considered, but I actually really appreciate metal bands just…you know…having fun. As opposed to other bands all up their own asses with how grim and brutal they gotta be. Then again, S.O.D. was more of a “sometimes band,” and not a serious pursuit to anyone involved with it. So, fuck it, I guess.

First of all: This is not an album that you wanna look to if you really need that technical sophistication in your life. There’s not shredding to be had here, it’s all simple, effective riffs that literally (figuratively) blast the face off your skull and on the floor for your pet to eat. “Bigger Than the Devil” is entirely short, relentless, no-frills metal. And some other stuff that’s barely music, and really just the band fucking around, but it doesn’t really detract from the album’s intensity at all, so who cares?

Secondly: This album was released in 1999 and it sounds just as relevant, heavy, and intense now as it did way back then. A lot of the songs on “Bigger Than the Devil” could easily stand up against anything put out by modern crossover bands like Municipal Waste. The production is crisp, but not so refined that it makes the music sound mechanical. The songwriting, as I mentioned, isn’t really anything special or overly complex. It is what it is, and what it is is perfect exactly the way it was written.

Thirdly: The lyrics are stupid. They’re meant to be stupid. Don’t take them seriously, S.O.D. clearly didn’t. There are a few lyrics that venture into “haha, look how non-P.C. and offensive I am!” territory, which can get obnoxious, but it’s ultimately harmless. The digs at King Diamond, Celtic Frost, and The Scorpions don’t feel too dated, mostly because those bands were already well past their prime in 1999, having already secured their own legacies.

“Bigger Than the Devil” is a good solid album. If you need something heavy that rocks, but you don’t want anything with a “metaller than thou” attitude, this is it. It isn’t refined, it isn’t perfect, but fuck you if you think it needs to be.

A long time ago I was just screwing around on iTunes looking for new music when I came across S.O.D’s “Bigger Than the Devil.” I knew already that members of M.O.D, Anthrax, and Nuclear Assault, were in this supergroup of sorts, so I decided to check them out. I was immediately drawn to the album cover, due its amusing parody of the “Number of the Beast” by Iron Maiden. Not only was the message that S.O.D’s music is “bigger than the Devil,” but the S.O.D. mascot is literally bigger than the Devil on the album art. It made me laugh so damn hard I fell off of my chair. Too funny. This album’s songs made me laugh as well. Compared to Ian and Benante’s previous and more serious work with Anthrax, this was like a group of high school friends that decided to make the most vulgar and hilarious collection of songs with a political message behind it. Lines like the one bellow sum up the album pretty well:

"Thanks to crack you can get a blow job for a buck
VCR with remote if you have good luck
You can find most anything at a bargain price
Courtesy of the crack heads who roam your streets at night”

The lyrics brought to light the dangers of real life, with a comical twist to them. Good song structure, good thrash. As I listened to the songs in order, I noticed the nice mixture of super sludgy riffs like the opening riff to “King At the King/Evil Is In,” to the high pitched middle verses of “Aren't You Hungry.” “Black War,” “Aren’t You Hungry,” Bigger Than The Devil,” “Kill the Assholes,” Make Room, Make Room,” “The Crackhead Song,” “We All Bleed Red,” “Shenanigans,” “Free Dirty Needles,” “Monkeys Rule” “King At the King/Evil Is In,” and “Moment of Truth” are all complete songs, but the remaining eleven songs were somewhat jokes in comparison. “Speak English or Die” was already joking around enough, but this record was way too laid back at times. The remaining 4 minutes and 44 seconds could have been made into a couple of good songs, but were instead put to use by making fun of dead musicians (Michael Hutchins) and poking fun at Celtic Frost, although, that is quite amusing.

When it comes to production on a thrash/crossover album, the production should be more on the raw side, but not terrible sounding. I loved the way that the drums were miced. The bass drums sound like a dampened “lub lub” versus the more metallic “thump thump.” Benante’s mounted toms were tuned perfectly, the snare was bright and crisp and the cymbals/hi-hat had nice clarity. Lilker’s bass was a little bit too fuzzy and muddy for my liking. It is interesting that Dan Lilker’s tone is fuzzed out due to the fact that he picks and doesn't pluck or use his fingers. I prefer Billy Milano’s vocals on this S.O.D. release more than any other. They are gritty, for the gut, and kick and scream through the wall of noise that the band creates. They matched the songs attitude perfectly. Last, but certainly not least is Scott Ian. Possibly the greatest rhythm guitarist in metal, Ian’s shredding on this record is great. He is always perfectly in-sync with Lilker and the tone quality he produces is beyond professional. Kudos to Nuclear Blast Records. They produced my favorite sounding drum kit out of any recording that I’ve heard.

“Bigger Than the Devil’s” overall mood and vibe is the right mate for itself. It allows you to have the opportunity to either take a serious topic seriously or lets you make a mockery of it if you wish. It always makes me want to take my sticks out and start beating on my drum set till the skins break. That is a mood few albums can capture. Although not as groundbreaking as “Speak English or Die,” “Bigger Than the Devil” does this supergroup justice.

This is a difficult album, not so much to get into in and of itself, but to accept as the follow up to such a unique classic as “Speak English Or Die”. It’s a victim of its time in virtually every respect, being informed fairly noticeably by the groove metal craze that still had Pantera and Anthrax firmly in its grasp, particularly in the vocal performance and guitar tone. But in stark contrast to the sentiments of most who panned this as a pretentious cash crab by 4 burned out thrashers who hadn’t done much of late, “Bigger Than The Devil” is both worthy of the S.O.D. name, and ironically something of a grower in terms of its content.

The same jokes are never as funny the second time, but interestingly enough, this brand of tasteless and uninhibited humor has some staying power. One can’t help but be tickled pink and simultaneously amazed at how well this outfit satirizes Celtic Frost and INXS so goofily within this medium, not to mention fail to avoid busting out laughing at King Diamond ordering a whopper in his signature character on “King At The King/Evil Is In”. But aside from the usual smatterings of 4 to 30 second gimmick songs, there are some fine renditions of high speed mayhem from their mid 80s roots in “Kill The Assholes”, “Shenanigans” and “Aren’t You Hunger”, all of which are unmarred by the Phil Anselmo tendencies in Milano’s vocals and the somewhat overly distorted guitar tone.

The album doesn’t quite go off into full fledge sucking Machine Head style per say, but at times a lot of what would be solid songs are held back, some more than others, by the groove conventions being employed. “Make Room, Make Room” and “Movement Of Truth” kick a fair amount of ass, hard core mosh style, but get bogged down in these overlong groove intros that are wholly unnecessary. Though on a certain kind of album this can slip by with little notice, because of the needed brevity in this style, a 3 minute song with a 1 minute groove intro can turn into drudgery instantly. “Bigger Than The Devil” and “The Crackhead Song” could almost be labeled throw away songs given that they never level groove territory and sound like nothing more than Pantera rip-offs without the solos, not to mention that they kick the album off on a very poor note.

Despite some glaring problems that need not have come up, this is a worthy purchase, though preferably one that is made at $10 or less. There’s still plenty of unfettered and profane mockery, neck-wrecking riffage, slaying thrash and blast beats, muddily distorted bass intros, and the same pissed off, drunken goodness that we’ve come to expect from Billy Milano, albeit with a bit of “Far Beyond Driven” influences around the edges. It could be called a reprieve of sorts for all the musicians in congress, given the lack of impressive output on any of their parts at this point and time. It’s as good as it could’ve been, I suppose, and I guess that’s good enough, though quite far from being a successor to the original.

Originally submitted to (www.metal-observer.com) on January 16, 2011.

In 1999, Anthrax had gone to shit. M.O.D. wasn’t doing shit. Nuclear Assault was dead. Therefore an S.O.D. reunion was inevitable. But after a decade of inactivity was it logical?

I would argue that it wasn’t. As an old saying goes, a joke is never as funny the second time around and after the release of this album, I’m sure only S.O.D. themselves were laughing. It seems that at some point between 1985 and 1999, the band had been bitten by the Pantera bug that had infected most every other thrash band since the early 90’s. Billy Milano’s vocals echo Phil Anselmo as he tries to make his voice as low and br00tal as possible. Scotty’s riffs aren’t too far removed than some of that 90’s Anthrax garbage and Dan Lilker is right there with him. Charlie Benante still dominates his instrument but basically the music sucks and the humor is gone. Occasionally I found myself chuckling at the lyrical antics (“Celtic Frosted Flakes” and “Monkeys Rule”) and every so often I found myself headbanging frantically as if this was Speak English or Die, but these moments are brief and isolated. The comically racist, insensitive, politically incorrect, super thrash that S.O.D. had laid down back in the 80’s just couldn’t be resurrected without sounding stale.

There’s a couple legit thrashy tunes on here (including a rendition of M.O.D’s “Aren’t You Hungry”), but most of this is aggro bullshit, not to mention about half a dozen short throwaway tracks. In fact, most of these tracks are throwaways; download the handful of crossover-sounding songs and be done with this.

Highlights: “Kill The Assholes,” “Monkeys Rule,” “Shenanigans”

This second S.O.D. studio albums suffers from the same problems as the Kiss album “Psycho Circus” (1998, Ace and Peter returned after ‘kin years). The albums simply try to please everybody and have some refreshing moments as well as taking all knows paths. It really sounds like a mess at times even though there are some pretty brilliant songs here. It simply sounds as if they’ve been thinking too long about certain aspects from which the spontaneity suffers.

What if you made an album exactly the same as your previous successful one? Some will be happy, obviously. What if you will make an album that is going beyond what you did before. Same story really. Why not try to to do both at the same time? Unfortunately this win-win thought can lead to a lose-lose album.

The first problem is that it takes about three songs before the album starts to actually sound like S.O.D.. Opening title track “Bigger than the Devil” is a bit over long, remains midpaced and the riffs aren’t all that yet. The vocals sound a little too low pitched here, making the song drag. Second song “The Crackhead Song” is slightly better, combining hardcore with a blast speed death metal chorus. It’s not until “Kill the Assholes” that S.O.D. really starts to sound like S.O.D. again. The same type of riffing and humour as in 1985 can be found on a small amount of songs like the longer raging crossover tunes “Kill the Assholes”, “Make Room, Make Room”, the almost brilliant “Shenanigans”, “Xerox”, “Moment of Truth ”, “Black War” and of course the short funny songs, the ballads of Michael H. and Phil H.

Some new found experiments work out surprisingly well actually. Because of the dynamics “Every Tiny Molecule” is quite a refreshing and good song. However the amount of Sargent ‘D’ lyrics is extremely low. Instead there are quite a few politically correct songs to be found like “We All Bleed Red ” or “Free Dirty Needles” which have some nice rhymes that would have been too harsh for Anthrax but certainly aren’t strong enough for S.O.D. Some of these crossover songs lyrically have more in common with Post-“Rhythm of Fear” M.O.D. than S.O.D. and therefore sound a bit generic. I really miss the harsh lyrics on these songs!

The amount of humorous songs is higher this time. “Skool Bus” is especially funny. “Fugu”, “L.A.T.K.C.H ” and “Dog on the Tracks” even bring the grindcore approach of the Crab Society North demo to mind. “Frankenstein and His Horse” is enjoyable. Their funniest moments, both musically as well as lyrically, are “King at The King” and “Celtic Frosted Flakes” and I think I do not have to elaborate about the lyrical content here. No songs like “Chromatic Death” this time though.

Unfortunately there are some joke songs here that simply aren’t funny enough. Or at least not funny the second time around. “The Song That Don't Go Fast” really is funny only once. And the third joke about studio noise (also counting the MOD debut album of course) has become too much of a good thing even though they intentionally left out the noise itself but play a variation of the song on the first album.

Also I should mention the presence of the original version of “Aren’t You Hungry” on this album. Despite what many think, this song with these riffs was originally written for a second S.O.D. album back in 1985 but since that didn’t happen a lot of riffs were later used for the Anthrax song “Imitation Of Life” (Among The Living, 1987) and not the other way around. What we have here is the original composition from 1985. After Anthrax had used some riffs two years later, a modified version of “Aren’t You Hungry” appeared on the M.O.D. debut album. Just so you know. Oh, and by the way, I have always found “Imitation Of Life” superior to this song so I always skip this 1999 recording to keep it from interfering with me worshipping the mighty “Among The Living”.

As a whole the album has slightly too many funny songs and not enough of those brutal songs with politically incorrect debatable hard lyrics. The balance and spontaneity which made the debut so brilliant are clearly lost this time. The result therefore can not compete with “Speak English Or Die”. The M.O.D. debut “USA for MOD” (1987) sounded a lot more like S.O.D. than this album does. Fortunately more than half of this album is really good so it’s absolutely not a waste or shameful to own this record if you’re into S.O.D.

Almost 15 years have passed since their debut album and in 1999 S.O.D. return to the roots with this new album. It was very hard to match the intensity of “Speak English Or Die”, that still nowadays is regarded as a milestone in this genre. Their will of amuse and enjoy themselves is always the same and the music always incredibly funny.

We all know the genre: thrash/crossover at its best. Ironic, desecrating lyrics and speed in music. The “long” songs are few so I start from these ones. The title track is quite slow with crunchy, catchy riffs and good refrain. The bass is pounding and distorted. The following “The Crackhead Song” is a mix of blast beats and mid paced riffs. Fun! “Kill The Assholes” is amazing. Pure brutality.

“Black War” is one of my favourite here. Great up tempo and catchy singing chorus. “The Song That Don’t Go Fast” is so slow to grow in speed while is going on. Good! The great “Shenanigans” is punk on blast beats. The drumming is incredible and devastating. Billy Milano is always so bad ass but also so funny at vocals.

The shortest songs (just few seconds) are the hilarious “School Bus”, “Dog On The Tracks” or “Fugu” among the others. More or less all characterized by hyper fast tempo parts and strange/screamed vocals. A good thing to notice is the riff on “Aren’t You Hungry”, copied from Anthrax’s “Imitation Of Life” song. Looking at the members in this group they can do it.

These are S.O.D. You can hate or love them in their style. I love them even if this album is a bit less spontaneous than “Speak English Or Die” that still remains untouchable. Anyway, this is a fucking good effort.

These guys obviously were pretty pressed on cash when they made this fucker... "half assed" is written all over it. Not only is the songwriting quality down, but there are some riffs on here that just don't cut it, particularly for a grade A songwriter like Scott. S.O.D. should have left their legacy intact...

All gripes aside, Bigger Than the Devil is a pretty fun album. "Celtic Frosted Flakes" makes me laugh my ass off.... also see "King at the King", about King Diamond hookin up w/ a whopper. Definitely not meant to be taken serious... there are some funny ass racist/antisemetic lyrics included, ironic since Dan Lilker and Scott Ian are both proud jews. Musically the first 10 songs are crap, somewhere between a less inspired version of MOD's Devolution and Speak English or Die. Most of the frenzied riffage that made Speak English classic is gone. =*(

Things get better towards the end, with We All Bleed Red and Aren't You Hungry (the song that spawned Anthrax's Imitation of Life, simply one of the best riffs EVER), which recapture some of that hardcore tinged intensity. The version I have contains 3 bonus tracks, a kick ass Slayer tribute called Seasoning the Obsese (do you want to fry?) and the most amusing SOD "ballad" ever, in honor of the scorpions. So funny.

So, unless you are one of those Anthrax completists, stay away from this and pick up SOD's legendary debut. Live at Budokan is pretty god damn good too, if ya dig it