Sunday, July 30, 2017

CD Review: ALL OUT WAR Give Us Extinction

Give Us Extinction
To be released August 11th 2017
Released for airplay July 19th 2017
We last heard from All Out War when their Dying Gods EP came out in 2015. Following it is a new full length CD Earsplit promises will crush more relentlessly than anything released through the 90s and 2000s. Aside from a promise that has accompanied a band’s new release countless times, what matters most is if the band themselves deliver and how much. It was 1994 when I acquired another EP of theirs, Destined To Burn. This was when hardcore-thrash crossover was being redefined by Biohazard, Sheer Terror, Madball, Killing Time, Life Of Agony and Merauder. The songs recorded for it; Destined To Burn, Resist and Fall From Grace; would prove instrumental in shaping their identity, starting with their 1997 CD Truth In The Age Of Lies. For a glimpse of the potential they showed and their ability to fire up their audience, watch this clip of their set from Peekskill Hardcore Fest in upstate NY from October 1994 (I was there and seeing it brings back memories). Their albums For Those Who Were Crucified, Condemned To Suffer, Assassins In The House Of God and Into The Killing Fields propelled All Out War to unforeseen heights of popularity in the States and abroad. I should add these bands in their own way adapted the groove of 90s hardcore to overtly post-thrash progressions with a natural ease that attracted fans of both genres and blurred the lines between them. Each of those albums seemed to grow more fervent and volatile without losing sight of the dirty streets and dilapidated buildings that helped influence their early material. The pre-gentrified old New York atmosphere and the streetwise saunter it produced has persisted in making its presence known all the way up to the new album. The years have seen several different guitarists and drummers in the band. The present lineup of Mike Score (vocals), Taras Apuzzo and Andy Pietroluongo (guitar), Eric Carrillo (bass) and Jesse Sutherland (drums/vocals) are growing seasoned since recording Dying Gods. Their efforts as a cohesive unit are strongest in Burn These Enemies, From The Mouths Of Serpents, In Praise Of Leeches, Choking On Indifference (with guest vocals by Straphangers vocalist Emily Muscara), Circling Vultures and Repulsive Premonitions. The scorched earth themes of the lyrics haven’t changed much since Destined To Burn, another characteristic the band has refused to compromise. As a consistent warning to the human race of how things could turn out, the lyrics are made all the more dramatic by the pummeling music serving as a vehicle for them. Emily Muscara also makes a guest appearance on All Out War’s cover of Nausea’s (old school NYC crust punk) Cybergod and Michelle Eddison formerly of Starkweather makes a guest appearance on Carcass Rot. -Dave Wolff

Track list:
1. Give Us Extinction
2. Burn These Enemies
3. Worship The Cancer
4. From The Mouths Of Serpents
5. In Praise Of Leeches
6. Choking On Indifference
7. Carcass Rot
8. Circling Vultures
9. Ingesting Vile
10. Bodies For The Machine
11. Cybergod
12. Repulsive Premonitions

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