Success Will Write Apocalypse across the Sky
The Grand Partition and the Abrogation of Idolatry
Nuclear Blast
Street: 04.03
Success Will Write Apocalypse Across the Sky = Gorerotted + Extreme Noise Terror + Psycroptic
I have to say right out of the get-go here that I absolutely despise terribly long band names for a few reasons: One is it sounds kind of emo, and two, the big reason, is that it gives a sense of a lack of ideas. Let’s face it—the longer your band’s name is, the easier it is to forget. Though the band does go by SWWAATS, it is just as confusing in any right. However, the Tampa-based death/grind crew did bring their mettle to the table with a grindingly good album worth listening to more than once. With nice and crisp production, the groove-styled riffing gets a podium turning things into a giant, speedy, gut-wrenching affair. The lead guitar/technical guitar work is subtly pleasing instead of being the over-the-top annoying, syrupy goo that some bands are passing off as talent these days. The just-over-a-half-hour’s worth of tunes presented here seem to play out longer, and yeah, there is some redundancy with repeated listens, but what death/grind record isn’t redundant in some way? –Bryer Wharton

Tankard
Thirst
AMF
Street: 05.19
Tankard = Slayer + Death Angel + Vio-lence + Sodom
Germany’s Tankard have been thrashing it up since ’82 and interestingly enough, they play opposite what German trash metal is most known for. Tankard are tried-and-true beer-fueled party thrashers, although they do maintain some of the raw German thrash elements at times as well. The tunes are mostly speed driven, well played and well written, with fantastic mixing of clean and raw guitars & vocals. Lyrically, Tankard is driven by drinking beer or whatever alcoholic beverage serves you best, though there are some serious song lyrics and wise and somber-type melodies that do chime in a few times. Thirst is another solid album for a band with a long history of thrash-metal glory. I’ll listen to any Tankard record over any new-school thrash-metal band attempting to play music that sounds exactly like the stuff these guys built their career upon. –Bryer Wharton

The Thermals
Now We Can See
Kill Rock Stars
Street: 04.07
The Thermals = The Ramones + Ted Leo and the Pharmacists + Built to Spill
The Body, The Blood, The Machine was such a tremendous document of pop-punk, indie-pop, whatever you want to call it, it sort of begged the question, “Well, shit, what are they going to do next?” Fortunately, Hutch Harris and company have returned with a great addition to their unique catalogue in a not-s-unique genre. Now We Can See picks up pretty much where The Body …  left off musically. This release has some more forgettable tracks than The Body …, but it’s still full of scathing, insightful lyrics masked by a pop-punk backdrop. Now We Can See satisfies that part in all of us that wants to sing along and be rebellious simultaneously. Although most of the album finds the band playing up-tempo pop-punk melodies, “At the Bottom of the Sea” reins in the Thermals energy and shows that their songwriting isn’t chained to the upbeat. It serves as a good break before pushing forward into “When We Were Alive,” which finds them harkening back to their Fuckin’ A days. Many people will talk of The Thermals taking on a post-Bush Obama era. Although this may be a valid point of reference, the most important aspect is that the Thermals are more interested in framing the present in a more artistic way than with bumper-sticker politics. That’s why they are the best at what they do. –Peter Fryer