Album Review: "Biological Enslavement" by Hemotoxin

Biological Enslavement

In the before time, there were all sorts of these things called commercials that were on the TV during these things they called shows.

So many of them spoke about what we kids were going to do with our lives after we grew up.

Many times they attempted to convince me that going into the army and getting the GI Bill was the way to go. Suffice it to say, it didn't work as the military and I would never get along.

Even commercials that had nothing to do with finding our place in life tried to tap into this youthful indecision. McDonalds had all sorts of commercials with groups of kids having Macs, presumably, after school. This is the time where apparently the teenagers of my generation hung out to plan out their lives. Of course this was well before Facebook and Twitter. They were trying to sell us things under the guise of helping us cross the precipice between who we were and whom we wished to be....with a side order of fries of course.

Hemotoxin

If Hemotoxin were a human being, they would be someone a bit older than me in the middle 80's.

Hard to believe as it may seem, death metal was not always around.

Hemotoxin seems to recall that there was a time when death metal was emerging out of thrash.

The drums have a modern sound, but a throwback feel all the while driving home the point with jackhammer efficiency.

If Obituary's Jeff Tardy was a thrash metal pioneer, he might have fit in well with Hemotoxin, The vocals are thick, but more shouted than growled. It's almost as if he's trying to find himself on stage.

Riffs by the dozen and solos by the bushel basket. All of the things that make metal great are here. The solos are pure fret blazing glory. If this man never released another guitar doodle, he'd still be a legend in my own mind.

So few guitarists can take the listener to so many places during the course of a thirty second musical interlude. From the dizzying highs to crushing lows and beautiful pinched harmonics to let you know he's there.

Hemotoxin sounds like a teenager struggling to find themselves, but let's remind them, the chase is better than the catch. If this is what they sound like without having found themselves, let them search for all eternity.

Release: 4/15/16
Genre: Metal
Label: Unspeakable Axe Records
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