Hells bells! We got ourselves another one of those bands thinking that a mere 27-minute airplay would melt the ice-cold metal hearts over at the RMR review desk.1 Usually, we’ll allow some leeway to punk records or some truly outstanding performance reaching us in short format. Yet, Allfather‘s A Violent Truth won’t hit any of those lofty standards, gruff fury and apparent eviscerations notwithstanding. And that means that this EP-ish piece here ain’t no candidate for an in-depth full review. Anger issues brutally untreated. ‘Soit’, as we say in French.
To be fair, though, the unforgiving rage in that short blurb of metal brutalization does dispense a certain punkish taste. So, Allfather gets some grudging merit here. And boy, those folks are mad at the world – so mad. All that abundant wrath translates into a straight-in-yer-face sludgy and sometimes slightly grungy riff fest that will coldly grip you where it hurts. A merciless wall of sound that risks squashing you as the tracklist moves forward like a runaway truck.
The vocals shove themselves into your faces either as vile rasps or some sort of desperate rough-hewn cranky half-clears that sound like an undead and half-rotten Johnny Nocash converted to underground metal. And in between those neatly intertwined riffs, a scratchy, yet outstanding solo will suddenly appear. It’s actually a pretty outstanding example of a multilayered metal attack.
Poison Soil or the unreal Take Their Eyes already sport a ferocious heft that could cause your eardrums serious injury. Yet, after the useless interlude – A False Peace – things heat up some more. The band’s wandering into blackened territory with a punkish rawness that squished us back into our seats. The Hunt Infernal – for instance – sounds like an enraged modern-day concoction the German Zeit may embark on. Perfect examples to let dat terrible bass rumble comfortably across your stomach.
So, did A Violent Truth make us go for seconds? Not quite – ’tis more of an acquired taste than anything else. But the record’s furious pace and ferocious posture did garner it a few spins. When we were in the mood, that is.
Label: Trepanation Recordings | Web: Facebook (band)
Release Date: 31 March 2023
- Or any reviewer out there for that matter. -Ed.-↩