Messiahlator – Brain Killer (demo)
Fine, I admit it. There’s very little chance I’lll ignore the opportunity to review a cassette that a) sounds like time-traveling ’80s punk-thrash with a little Death Metal thrown in for good measure and b) comes with a human-written promo letter and c) is called Messiahlator. Let that band name roll off your tongue: Messiahlator. A sworn promise of asskickery, delivered. This demo has everything you’ll ever need: hand-drawn cover, gang vocals that sound like they’re pitch-transposed (but aren’t), songs ranging from 1 to 3 minutes, guitars and drums that are hyperspeedy crust punk one minute, thrash-o-death the next. Apparently the snow in Edmonton is laced with vitriol, as band after band escaping the sewers Up North appears ready to shake bad-tempered, drunken fists at every institution writers of this fine webzine wag aging middle-fingers at. Brain Killer eviscerates in the only way an album with that title could: bluntly, with a back-alley, rusted butcher-blade of sonics laid to tape gift-wrapped for the schizoid criminal in us all. Besides the bludgeoning that honors its influences while dragging them into the modern age with blitzkreig drumming and enough attitude to impress The Grouch with more than a modicum of snarky delivery/devilry, this album is (stifle the eye-rolls, elitists) fun. That’s right, I said it; fun. Yes, you know you like to flash a toothy, evil grin every once in a diabolical full moon. So go to bandcamp and download, or do the better thing and opt for the cassette; besides being analog, it comes with a tiny, sweet sticker (heh). Most importantly of all, there’s a track called called ‘Canada Dry’ – and they’re from Canada, remember (heh x2)? Quickly now; click/swipe/whatever to open a new tab in your browser and get this shite. -Jim
Self-Released
Worm Gear 