Sometimes They Come Back... to Mosh

If magazine/webzine articles and my soulseek uploads window are anything to be considered, one of the bands of the supposed 'thrash revival' which seem to be getting quite famous are FKU. Sporting old school riffs, references to other thrash bands, short and rather pointless interludes similar to Nuclear Assault, and a sense of humour, in ideology at least FKU could be one of the best thrash bands of the new millennium.

But one listen to "Sometimes They Come Back... To Mosh" proves that their actual music is quite different. What we really have here can be seen as a poor man's Municipal Waste. They're like that cheap ass food brand which contains many of the necessary elements of the product, yet fails to stand out in any way or even be of reasonable quality. Sure, you can still eat it, but you wonder why you are eating crap when you could be eating the real thing.

I mean hell, they rip off a riff from Cranium of all bands, who themselves are a retro thrash band which gets most of their riffing off some old thrash bands. Listen to the first riff of "To Mosh", and then go listen to "Slaughter on the Dance Floor". I mean, if you're gonna use another band's riff, at least make sure said band you're stealing it from are actually original. The production does not help in the bit either, with a sludgy muted sound to it. The guitar tone aggravates the problem, as instead of sounding sharp, vicious and violent it seems sort of soft around the edges if you get what I mean. However, at least it is not downtuned to stupidity like some other 'modern thrash' releases.

And yet, despite all this, STCB...TM is still sort of enjoyable. Despite the riff thefts, second tier status, the muddy production and the general averageness of a lot of it, it is still fun to listen to when bored. Songs such as 'Fury 58' rip yer fuckin face off and shit down your throat with it's intense riffing and fast pace. The homages to old school bands are done quite tastefully, with songs such as 'Agent Amy Steel' attempting, and for the most part succeeding, in sounding like the bands they are respecting. 'Four Fingers Fatal To The Flesh' is a fricken awesome song with death metal inspired riffing with nicely placed blast beats and growling in the chorus. Even the lyrics are awesome, based on a horror movie which you have no doubt guessed at this point from the title of the song. The Tankard cover is done pretty well and sounds better than the original in certain places. The lyrics are stupid but get a laugh out of me on occasion, and are not supposed to be taken seriously anyway.

The rest of the tracks aren't bad, just boring. This is one of those albums where there is a couple of stand out songs, with the rest being half hearted filler or pointless interludes. Worth getting? Perhaps if you're a big thrash fan, but don't go in expecting much. This is a fairly mediocre thrash release which is brought up by a few awesome songs, and hence I can't really recommend it.

Highlights: To Mosh, Fury 58, Agent Amy Steel, Four Fingers Fatal to the Flesh