Suppressive Fire launch another salvo with Covered in Conflict
Sometimes it’s better to pick the scrawny kid for a henchman over the big burly tough guy. With enough attention and discipline, and through hard work and rigorous training, he may become the hardiest and most dangerous of your crew cause he has a lot more to prove.
On the same note you go on the interwebs and pick a local or lesser known band to listen to over some big time arena selling band. In the long run with enough practice combined with Facebook likes and sharing by fans, that band may also end up on tours with bigger bands with their own audience of thirsty fans that came just for them. They may even land a sweet deal with a beloved record label, though these days that’s not really necessary.
I know I know “Stop being long winded and get to the point Simon.” Here’s my point. You remember that band of rowdy thrashers Suppressive Fire? You should. When the criminal maniac writes about a band he likes, nine times out of ten you should pay attention. Anyway, they are now in the process of making and releasing a full-length tentatively titled Crucify the Kings. The date of this release is not known for now, but the band estimates sometime in March/April of this year. With this record, I feel SF are well poised to get much bigger in the metalsphere. At least if I have anything to say about it. And no, that hasn’t been me standing outside of the venues in Raleigh with a twelve gauge “persuading” people to go to their shows. You can’t prove it and I’ll hear no more of it, so stop fucking asking.
While you wait till Suppressive Fire drops the load of their full-length, they recently released a nugget of a split with South Carolina thrashers and good friends Axattack consisting entirely of covers, titled Covered in Conflict. The songs Suppressive Fire have opted to cover here are Massacre by Thin Lizzy, Gimme Gimme Gimme by Black Flag, and War by Bathory. Of the three, War makes the most sense and is unsurprisingly the most straightforward cover. Before you tr00 kvlt weiners whine about the band defiling your precious Quorthorn’s grim legacy, I assure you they do a fine job. The track is obviously more polished than the original but maintains its sense of aggression and defiance. As for the other two covers, it’s a bit strange hearing Aaron Schmidt’s punkish snarl (albeit more subdued than usual) on Massacre instead of Phil Lynott’s singing, which always felt like the cool old guy at the bar opening up to some youngins after them treating him to a few beers. It still works though because it still exudes the sense of simultaneous menace and sadness that the original gave off so well. And while Gimme Gimme Gimme is okay, it’s my least favorite cover of the bunch simply because that is THE go-to Black Flag song for metal bands to cover, and thus has been regurgitated ad infinitum. I would personally have loved to hear the trio tackle Police Story.
Axattack’s cover, amusingly titled “Who the Fuck is Slayer?” and consisting of one six minute plus collage of bits of classic songs from Metallica, Motorhead, and Venom (and Toxic Holocaust‘s Nuke the Cross), is less appealing but still interesting to my ears. I don’t care for medleys as it is, but Axattack manage to stay true to each of the songs they squash together. I actually wouldn’t be surprised if drummer Chris Darlington could play Seek and Destroy better than Lars at this point. Yeah I went for the low hanging fruit. Send your complaints to fuckoffanddealwithit@gmail.com and I’ll be sure to respond with a vine of me taking a great big Cleveland Steamer in a timely fashion.
So stop being lazy and head over to either bands’ Bandcamp pages to purchase this split. It’s name your price along with all of their other releases so you have no excuse. Also, if any of you flushers live in the Southeast, look forward to SF invading your town soon on a co-headlining tour called War is Hell with fellow North Carolinian’s All Hell (whose 2014 record The Devil’s Work is no slouch, especially if you like bands like Midnight). I’ll be sure to inform the ever docile masses of any more news concerning the upcoming full-length or whether the band decides to go on a bank robbing spree or such. Because I’m just that type of guy.
Until next time, mosh and be well flushers.
