Not that this is some kind of rousing achievement or anything, but
before I even heard a note I already knew what this CD was going to sound
like just from the album cover - dark, distorted and plenty ugly! One of
Portrait's newest entries into the modern music sweepstakes comes
compliments of "Union Underground," and hey, "Underground," how prophetic!
"An Education In Rebellion" leads off in a most displeasing
manner. Think of how disciplinary action was administered in the old
days. Now, forget the whole idea of a ruler across the knuckles and try a
sledgehammer! And I'd love to compliment the lyricist here, except for
one thing. . .what lyrics? You can't make out a single word over the
background noise! So far I'm hearing kind of a cross between Marilyn
Manson and by song three, Limp Bizkit! Twisting, turning, writhing, a
complete lack of melody, but plenty of belligerence, and what would one
expect from a "South Texas Deathride!"
Okay, we're following the lead
of early Coal Chamber now with the stomp and grind of Powerman 5000 as
in "Turn Me On 'Mr. Deadman'," and this could well be the best of the
bunch! Do I detect a here today, gone tomorrow slant going on? Great track
that just fades to flames before giving way to "Until You Crack." Again
this churning in your gut that seems inescapable no
matter how hard you try, and I tried very hard.
Anything that contains "rebellion" or "revolution" always gets my attention
and now I'm
groovin' to "Revolution Man," which passing over the last few, is another
of the better cuts. It begins sorrowfully enough, then breaks into a
flying rage in a blitz of riffs and nearly manageable, singing,
high-level metal psychosis to be sure! I shudder to think how I
might've turned out back in the day had I been exposed to anything like
this, but then again, we got condemned for listening to AC/DC so what
the hell?
The whole disc just shudders and shakes, going nearly
psychedelic toward the end on this "Trip With Jesus" and the cleverly
porch-side swing and shift style of "Bitter," which looks like three
years later, hard feelings still permeate to the surface of the skin.
In closing, "The Friend Song" is easily the most rambunctious of the
bunch, feeding off a frenzy of thrash guitar, vocal distortion and what
nearly amounts to a catchy chorus soon drowned out in a wall of rage.
All right class, everybody take your seats. For today's lesson we'll be
discussing how many different ways there are to hack and slice your
neighbor into nice, neat, bloody little pieces.
