Brutal Truth - Evolution Through Revolution

Rating: 7.5

Country: USA

Genre: Grindcore

Release Date: 2009

Track list:
1. Sugardaddy
2. Turmoil
3. Daydreamer
4. On The Hunt
5. Fist In Mouth
6. Get A Therapist Spare The World
7. War is Good
8. Evolution Through Revolution
9. Powder Burn
10. Attack Dog
11. Branded
12. Detatched
13. Global Good Guy
14. Humpty Finance
15. Semi-Automatic Carnation
16. Itch
17. Afterworld
18. Lifer
19. Bob Dylan Wrote Propaganda Songs
20. Grind Fidelity

Total playing time 41:17

Band Website: Brutal Truth

Brutal Truth - Evolution Through Revolution

Kevin Sharp - Vocals
Danny Lilker - Bass
Rich Hoak - Drums
Erik Burke - Guitars

I would not be writing to you right now if it wasn't for Brutal Truth. By that I don't mean that they dragged my unconscious body out of a burning car, like some super hero rescue team ("Brutal Truth, ASSEMBLE!"), merely they are one of those key bands who, during my formative years, steered me down the left hand path and influenced my subsequent listening habits.

It was the song "Choice of a New Generation" on the Earache sampler Earplugged Volume 1 which served as my introduction. The aspects I liked most was the bipolarity of the vocals, and the chaos of the drumming; especially Kevin Sharp's vocals. This was the first time that anything more extreme than, say, Tom Araya had clicked. Need to Control became my first Brutal Truth album a little while later, and for me it remains their finest hour. Sure Extreme Conditions... and Sounds of the Animal Kingdom are fantastic in their own ways, but Need to Control is where it is at for me. This, it seems, is at odds with the current consensus of opinion regarding Brutal Truth's work; if certain Grindcore best of lists are to be believed then the vote goes to Extreme Conditions.... Now then readers, if you're a fan of that album and want a return to that sound following the band's reformation, you'll be even more disappointed than I am in wanting a return to the style of Need to Control, for from the modern perspective it is apparent that Sounds of the Animal Kingdom is the definitive Brutal Truth record. I'm not forgetting Kill Trend Suicide in pioneering the change in sound that they've maintained to this day, just that Sounds... did it best, and indeed still does it best.

It's always interesting to see where a band will go following a protracted lay off, and usually it's a case of more of the same albeit with some degree of a twist, which more of less applies in the case of Evolution through Revolution; Brutal Truth have picked up where they left off. Sounds of the Animal Kingdom part II it isn't though. One feels that if the band hadn't split in the late '90s and had produced a follow up soon after, then their developmental arc would've continued ascending to higher (sic) levels of mindfuckery. Evolution through Revolution if anything sees a plateau of that arc, or maybe a slight descent back towards the relative simplicity of Kill Trend Suicide. So that's a difference, if not a twist. The twist on Brutal Truth of the late '00s is the guitar playing of Erik Burke. His playing fits in (fits in like a glove - this is unmistakably Brutal Truth) but displays a sound distinct from that of his predecessor, utilising plenty of Hardcore skronk and scree, all kinds of harmonics, and not much of what you could call typical Metal guitar stylings. No preoccupation with crunch, or bottom end (all that comes from Lilker's beautifully distorted bass). During the fast bits fast strummed atonal chords are often used, sounding like Morgan Hakansson picked up the wrong guitar.

Going back to that bass sound, it really is lusciously thick and viscous, like audio-treacle. Sound in general is one example where Evolution through Revolution does exceed their previous releases; it undeniably has the best production of ay Brutal Truth record yet, the bass drums thudding, the snare snapping, the bass hogging the bottom end, and Burke's guitars in the mids and highs. The only disappointment in this respect is the low mixing of the previously dominant vocals from Sharp. On some tracks he sounds almost anonymous, opener "Sugardaddy" for example borders on being an instrumental, and the short and sharp (pun unintended) "Attack Dog" similarly suffers, this one having overly distorted vocals buried among the other instrumentation.

Stylistically it is the most consistent Brutal Truth record since the debut (although of course the style is now different), and Evolution through Revolution lacks the variety and fluctuations of Need to Control and Sounds of the Animal Kingdom. The tracks bang along at a pace somewhere between Thrash and Blast, underpinned by that strong kick drum sound, careening into their trademark spazz-outs of Hypergrind, and venturing into straight forward Hardcore speed breaks. It is examples of these breaks in "Fist in Mouth" and "Global Good Guy" which provide the highlights of the disc, as the band hit a fearsome groove and pair it with catchy riffs. There are a couple of strong (mainly) slower numbers ala Need to Control's "Displacement", namely "Get a Therapist Spare the World" and "Detached", but a visit to formless Jazz on "Semi-Automatic Carnation" around 75% through stifles momentum, and the album doesn't quite recover in its last 25%. "Afterworld" and "Lifer" are a similar quality to the preceding tracks, but "Itch" and The Minutemen cover, "Bob Dylan Wrote Propaganda Songs", don't cut the mustard.

I was initially sceptical and stand-offish regarding Evolution through Revolution. I took an “Ok, impress me” approach, and it's to the album's credit that it did eventually end up, if not impressing me, then definitely satisfying me. I will concede that I am disappointed that the band have refined their approach rather than expand upon it, but that, I guess, is misplaced expectations of a band who were away for the best part of a decade. Expectations aside, if you're a fan of the band's post-Need to Control sound, you will find Evolution through Revolution to be a highly enjoyable Brutal Truth record.

June 30, 2009