Although the first track might suggest a sound that is going to becontinually deadly and menacing, the whole of this record ends upsmelling of atmosphere and deliberation. "Let's See Who's Here andWho's Not" kicks Obedience Cutsoff with a shot of cocaine and too much pornography: the band soundstruly frightening behind their roar of percussion madness and feedbackglory and the vocalist does nothing short of conjuring up images ofdomestic violence powered by unhinged anger. There's absolutely norhythmic pulse to be found anywhere, there is no melody, and whateverlyrics are being spouted off are anything but intelligible, but theforce of Hair Police's delivery is attention-grabbing enough to keepvolume soaring and my Windbreaker at my side. Expecting another dose ofmeth-fuelled hate, I braced myself for "Obedience Cuts" and wassurprisingly let down its brevity and lack of hair-raising assaultvalue. Suddenly the trio of Robert Beatty, Mike Connelly, and TrevorTremaine descended into the pits of their stomachs and began exploringthe inner-workings of their lower intenstine. Apparently the band hasbeen eating military equipment, pots and pans, and radars because themajority of the next couple of tracks are ruled by metallic jumbles,approaching aircraft, and sirens warning the world of nuclear fallout.The seven minute "Bee Scrape" might feature some high-frequency blastsof whining pipes and the rumbling of human souls being digested byunholy demons, but the attack is nowhere near as vicious as the firsttrack had promised me. The rhythms simply aren't leaving bruises likethey should and so I sit back and enjoy the chaos instead of getting upand tearing my room apart with an axe and chainsaw. "The Empty Socket"rounds out 5 tracks of well-organized noise with a continuum of gongstrikes and dead animals flopping about in water. And then I'm greetedby the promise of snare-drum molestation when the pounding of "OpenBody" begins... and I am satisfied by its sadism. Though it be short,the absolutely mindless gurgle of voice and feedback manages tocoaelesce into a satisfyingly destructive explosion. "Full of Guts" and"Skull Mold" round the album out with a combination of the nearcollage-like "quiet" tracks and the raging homocidal mania of theabusive moments. "Full of Guts" is a particularly disturbing trackwhere the vocalist yells through what must be an underground tunnel,ranting about who knows what but sounding absolutely torn betweenhimself and his hunger for all things chaotic. I can only imagine somemuscular and sweating man dressed in oiled clothing and marked by scarspunching the walls around him until the whole structure he's containedin collapses about him and crushes is head in with a satisfying crunch.I've heard heavier and louder albums, but I can't think of anotherrecord that is anywhere near as disturbing. Read More
