Beaten Back To Pure - The Last Refuge Of The Sons Of Bitches
- Released: 2002
- Label: Retribute Records
- Rating:
What the fuck else do I have to say about these guys? I have praised these Virginia bastards since I got a cassette of their Double Barrel Blasphemy demo a couple years back. Their latest release takes off where last year’s Southern Apocalypse left off – and then throws a few curveballs at you.
First off, and what really caught my ear the first time through, was the use of twelve string and acoustic guitars. It adds a new dimension to the band and definitely sets them apart from the sludgecore bands they were previously lumped together with.
Second, Ben’s vocals are still ultra, ultra, ultra brutal for the most part, but he mixes in actual singing in a few of the tracks (and he doesn’t sound like a little bitch when he does it). That’s usually my problem with actual ‘singers,’ they just come across as little pussies when they do it. Ben still sounds brutal even when he’s softly crooning one of his more fucked up lyrics. He still scares me.
Just those two differences above have set BBTP apart from almost every other band in the sludgecore genre they used to inhabit. But when you throw in almost thrash metal riffs (“Paleface”), tons of little Southern Rock riffs (enough to make Molly Hatchet and Lynyrd Skynyrd happy), guitars that aren’t swamped in distortion, and a surprisingly clean and distinct bass sound … then you definitely can’t call these guys sludge anymore. I have no idea what to label the band as now. Maybe guitarist Vince’s old term of ‘Dirt Metal’ has found a true home describing his bands new sound.
The addition of a new version of “Syphilis”, which originally appeared on the Double Barrel Blasphemy demo, highlights the changes the band has made in the last 2 years or so. It is an awesome inclusion on this disc, as it was my favorite song on DBB.
With more focused songwriting, better production values, and their willingness to experiment with new sounds without compromising their integrity or the core sound that makes BBTP what it is, they have surpassed what I ever thought possible and have genuinely created their own unique sound. These motherfuckers actually piss me off a little that they wrote this album and I didn’t. That’s usually how I tell a good album from a masterpiece, and this sumbitch is a masterpiece. My hat’s off to these guys… Album Of The Fuckin’ Year.
Link: beatenbacktopure.com
| 09/20/2002