Red Harvest

IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER was so great - what happened to Altar? It seems like all the fire, all the anti-religious rage, all the pure viciousness of that album did not make it to this one. This album feels weak, like the band is going through the motions.

Maybe it has something to do with the production. The guitars just sound weak on here, and the drum certainly doesn't have the thunderous presence of ITNOTF. But I get the feeling that Altar just ran out of ideas or passion, and just put out another album to put out another album. The singer sounds less pissed, like he doesn't have a target to attack - he's hollering to holler.

Not that the album is worthless. There are some good songs, and it does serve as good "background" metal - something you put on and don't really pay attention to. But overall, most of the songs are filler. The highlights are "Sick," if only for the singer bellowing, "Sick of it, asshole," over and over. What else? "Spikes and Pain" ain't too bad, with a catchy riff and lyrics about ole JC getting crucified. "Generation X" is ok too, though falters a bit in the lyrics department. But as I said before, there's a lot of filler in between, even an instrumental that goes nowhere.

To summarize, pick up IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER. This one was a dissapointment.