Album Review by Bradley Christensen
Band: Logistic Slaughter
Album: Corrosive Ethics
Record Label: Self-released
Release Date: April 20 2016
Metal elitism is rampant within the metal community, but would you like to know something? It’s not really that big of a deal. Yeah, there’s an interesting duality here, because as rampant and annoying as metal elitism is (where metal fans basically berate people for not liking the things they do, or disliking things they like, especially if either of those things aren’t “real metal” in their eyes), it’s pretty easy to ignore, but that’s because of where it happens. Most metal elitists make a home on the Internet (where I’m posting this review right now), because it’s the only place where they feel comfortable enough to post very vile, rude, and sickening comments to people. A lot of online bullies and/or trolls feel very alienated, isolated, or they’re bullied themselves, so they take to the one place where they can vent out their frustrations. If one of these guys did that in real life, permitting they had the social skills to do so, going up to a person in “real life” and saying that what they like isn’t “real metal” is awfully stupid. It’d make yourself look extremely dumb and idiotic to publicly tell someone that the band on their shirt or what they’re listening isn’t “true metal,” and they should somehow feel bad for enjoying it. You wouldn’t do that in real life, so why do it online? You’re not going to win any approval, nor are you contributing to anything by being rude to people. It’s one thing to discuss something with someone, but it’s another thing to be very vile, rude, and aggressive with them. The easiest way to ignore metal elitists is to just either not comment on Facebook posts from metal bands / pages, comment on YouTube videos, or any number of metal-related websites. The only time I’ve encountered metal elitists is when I was part of an old Facebook page (which was an anti-Blood On The Dance Floor page, and believe me, that takes me way back), and a lot of people that would frequent the page were metalheads (usually of the elitist variety), otherwise I don’t interact with these types of people whatsoever (and they’d love me, because I listen to some metalcore and deathcore, which isn’t “real metal,” as everyone knows).
Ignoring metal elitists is very easy, but one argument that a lot of them have is, and I’m paraphrasing here, “The heavier, the better.” A lot of these people will say that something either isn’t “real metal,” or it’s automatically garbage, because it’s not “brutal enough,” or “heavy enough,” and I hate that argument so much. Metal elitists tend to use this argument within metal itself, but I’ve seen it used to insult / discredit other genres, too, because it’s not as heavy or brutal enough as the extreme metal they like. It’s such a stupid argument, but it’s not even an argument, since it’s just a matter of personal taste. If you listen to heavy stuff, and that’s what you prefer, there’s nothing wrong with that, honestly. That’s just what you enjoy, but to completely throw every other kind of music under the bus, because it’s not “heavy enough” for you is stupid. It’s just completely and utterly asinine. What these people don’t quite seem to understand is that something being heavy doesn’t always translate out to being better. I’ve listened to a lot of metal albums that are just generic, boring, or utterly devoid of any personality. They’re not really all that good, or even that memorable, despite being heavy and “brutal.” It doesn’t mean it’s automatically superior, or something like that, it just means that it’s heavier and not as easy for the average music listener to get into. I always find it hilarious and perplexing at the same time when metal elitists don’t like something, because it’s not as heavy, but they fail to understand why casual and average music listeners (that might just listen to the radio) totally hate metal or heavier music. It’s not going to appeal to everyone, and that’s what these guys and girls need to understand.
That’s not to say that heavy music can’t be awesome, because there are tons of albums and bands in the hardcore and metal scenes that are absolutely wonderful. Some of my favorite albums this year are metal, but that’s not because they’re “brutal” or whatever, it’s just because they’re great albums that just happen to be really heavy. That’s not to say that you can’t like something because of how heavy or brutal it is. Some forms of metal are completely reliant on how heavy it is, such as heavier death metal and grindcore. A genre like deathgrind, which combines the two, is even heavier, and it’s a genre that’s definitely enjoyed because of how heavy, bone-crushing, and chaotic it is, but it’s a genre that I’ve never gotten much into. The closest that I ever got into it was last year, when I covered Cattle Decapitation’s last album, The Anthropocene Extinction. Cattle Decapitation went more technical death metal in their sound for that album, and it was less “grindy,” so I could get rather into it. It was a very good album, and one of my favorite albums (both metal or not) of last year. I don’t really know what compelled me to listen to the debut album from California deathgrind / death metal act Logistic Slaughter, and their debut LP, Corrosive Ethics. The album was just recently released a little under a month ago, and it’s quite a powerful record, ultimately because of how heavy and brutal it is. Sometimes that can be a good thing, as an album’s heaviness can help to how awesome it is, but there needs to be a point to the album’s heaviness. If an album is just heavy for the sake of being heavy, that becomes a novelty, so there’s nothing left to go back to.
Corrosive Ethics isn’t like that, thankfully, and there is a method to this band’s madness, whether it’s combining a few styles of death metal, including some tech-death elements, or some prog-death elements, and combining that with grindcore. It’s got a very interesting sound, and its heaviness comes from that sound, never being the main focus of the sound. Its vocals are pretty intense, too, going from a lot of different styles, including some pig squeals, very gutteral death growls, some high pitched screeches, and some really cool vocal moments that have the vocalist screaming really, really fast. It’s impressive, albeit it a little silly. It’s interesting how there’s both a lot going on within this LP, but not enough to where it becomes a problem, or even that overwhelming (it helps that the album is only about 34 minutes long, so it never becomes too boring, meandering, or uninteresting). With that said, though, this album can still be very overwhelming for some people, even for metalheads, because it’s pretty crazy. If you’re into grindcore, or death metal, you’ll probably find something to like here, or even love, as I love this album a lot, even though I acknowledge that it’s not going to be for absolutely everyone. Nonetheless, it’s still very, very awesome, as well as being one of the heaviest albums I’ve probably ever listened to. Logistic Slaughter is a band that you need to keep your eyes on. If this album is any indication of what they can do, and believe me, it is, I’m excited to see what they’ll do in the future. Definitely pick this album up if you’re curious about it. It’s totally worth it.
