As a favourite song once ranted, “Anger! Hostility towards the opposition!” Yep we all have some (motherfucking) anger in us and many a time I have been told that I need Anger Management. Then when the band actually sent me their new EP, somewhere down the line it got stolen and never arrived and guess what? Yep, that made me angry! Luckily due to the miracles (no mentions of magnets and how they work juggalos) of the Internet age I was able to listen to these 5 tracks electronically and boy did they knock me for six.
Having seen these heavyweight bruisers a few times and some of the bands the members used to be in such as Medulla Nocte, Next To Nothing and Underule, I had a rough idea what to expect but honestly I was taken aback by all the songs here very quickly. The first thing that surprised was the fact that they were actually quite accessible; still incredibly brutal but I think with a good production behind them there is another side of the band to be heard here that perhaps I missed live.
Starting with ‘The Lifelong Suicide’ you are thrown into a turbulent stew of frantic riffing and gut wrenching throaty vocals from singer Matt Cox. I was not however expecting the deep backing vocals adding to the harmony and this made a real difference to the gang shouts that one may have thought were likely to have a voice here. There is nothing in the way of hanging around with songs knocked out in about 3-4 minutes each and rampaging away hell for leather. It’s difficult to choose a best one as such but ‘Eyes Of The Lifeless’ with a doom laden guitar intro building up a swaggering groove and weighty punched out chorus part is a close contender. They even find time to throw in a spiralling solo too. Last number ‘Ignorance Is Bliss’ is an absolute belter too with an incessant guitar riff literally tearing into you and an almost Sepulturian bass groove!
Anger Management are one of those bands who seemingly fit in on a lot of bills - if you are heavy and are looking for a support, chances are they will be happy to come along and out-heavy you. On the strength of these songs I expect to be hearing a label announcement in the not too distant future, hell if I had one of my own I would certainly pick them up.
http://www.myspace.com/angermanagementmusic
