Artist: Earth Crisis
Title: Neutralize The Threat
Genre: Hardcore
Release Date: 1st July 2011
Label: Century Media Records
Album Review
Ever since EARTH CRISIS exploded onto the hardcore genre map in the late 90s, they basically set the standard following groups like BIOHAZARD and PANTERA. After a long run of a good string of straight edge, hard hitting albums that seemed to have something more to say than just the drivel expected of the genre, EARTH CRISIS disappeared for about eight years with each member going off to do their own projects. But they still honed their skills. In 2009, EARTH CRISIS made a comeback with their most ferocious album yet - ‘To The Death’. It was fast, heavy, and aggressive. Now two years later it seems they’ve picked up their game again, but ‘Neutralize The Threat’ may not sound like it is all cracked up as it should be. While the group seems to have slipped back to going for more of a groove hardcore sound that was on albums like ‘Breed The Killers’ and ‘Slither,’ compared to their last album it seems like they’ve cut out a bit of the firepower that made them so ferocious in the past.
Understand that EARTH CRISIS is not like HATEBREED - one of the more commercial mainstream hardcore bands that have had tons of success. While HATEBREED is more based on repetitive riffs and rough vocals with excellent messages of hope, EARTH CRISIS is more usually directly in one’s face basically bellowing at one needs to wake up and stop being so ignorant. However, with ‘Neutralize…’ the band took a different direction compared to the past, both in concept and sound. Rather than haphazardly string a bunch of songs together, the music is a lot clearer, and according to the band’s press release, a story about heroics and vigilantism, which is meant to bring on some new inspirations to anyone who listens to this album. The music itself though, if one were to compare it to days of old, or even their last album, feels like it has been slowed down a bit, imitating HATEBREED more than anything else. Tracks like ‘Neutralize The Threat’ and ‘Counterstrike’ have rapid, chugging riffs and even the vocals have taken on more of a cleaner, well produced roar that detracts from the scratchy, underground snarl that fans might be so familiar with. ‘Raze’ has some excellent slow, chugging formations to them; when EARTH CRISIS slows down a bit, they actually sound pretty decent as opposed to just obliviously hammering out chords, such as on ‘Total War’. ‘Total War’ is perhaps one of the heaviest tracks on the album, but at the same time it tends to use the same riffs over and over without too much variation. In contrast, ‘Askari’ tries to have a bit more lively guitar tone that jumps around more along the lines of modern thrash rather than just staying between two notes over and over.
However, one could agree that ‘Neutralize…’ can get very repetitive at times between tracks because many of the same riffs are recycled. Even though there are some fine moments such as the groove bass on ‘Askari’, mostly one can just expect the guitars, bass, and drums to chug in formation over and over perfectly, but at the same time it tends to only let the guitars and vocals be focused on while everything else is blotted out. The concept and the lyrics of the album are very well done, but the music could have been a bit harder and maybe even really slowed down at some points to really bring an emotional impact with the vocals, such as the final stunning track from their last album, ‘To The Death’. The way that track just churned along and blew peoples’ minds was fantastic, and a great impression made for EARTH CRISIS. It is just unfortunate that ‘Neutralize The Threat’ could not continue that impression. Older EARTH CRISIS fans be disappointed, but those who are more into the mainstream, crunchy stuff might feel right at home with this meaningful piece of work.
Tracklist
01. Raise - 1:25
02. Neutralize The Threat - 3:37
03. Total War - 3:38
04. 100 Kiloton Blast - 3:32
05. Counterstrike - 2:41
06. By Conscience Compelled - 3:16
07. Black Talons Tear - 3:17
08. Askari - 2:38
09. The Eradicators - 3:00
10. Raze - 3:02
Line-up
Karl Buechner – vocals
Scott Crouse – guitar
Ian Edwards – bass
Dennis Merrick – drums
Erick Edwards – guitar
Website
www.earthcrisis.us
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 7
Sound: 8
Total: 7.5 / 10
