Artist: Colonel Blast
Title: For The Greater Good
Type: Album
Label: Condate Records

My, my, what have we here? A band that’s a lean, mean, riffing machine, that’s what. Colonel Blast’s name could use a little improvement, but when you have music of this quality, you can forgive nomenclature discrepancies. After all, Pink Floyd is a terrible name, and look how far they went. I’m just hoping for Colonel Blast to go the same way, because this is a band with legs.

Opening track ‘Ethical Betreyal’ starts with deceptively tender strumming, before you step on a musical landmine: there’s the dizzying highs of the spiralling leads that make Carcass’ work so addictive, but the ability to turn on the width of a plectrum that keeps the critics creaming over the likes of Dillinger Escape Plan. And delightfully, they believe every word they say: similar to Converge’s ‘Axe To Fall’ last year, this is a record with a social conscience. Vocalist Matt roars and growls his frustration with bullshit generic celebrity culture, a trap the Blasters are unlikely to fall into, since they touch base with each of their influences without robbing wholesale: ‘For the Greater Good Pt2 - In the Cold Light of Day’ is a slow burner, similar to Converge’s more sinister work, and displays an unwavering confidence in their overall game, rather than just shredding like panicking members of a soon-to-be-ex-regime. Which they do admirably on ‘The Beacon’, which is like a runaway train juddering roughshod over so many maidens tied to the tracks.

Although this release is scanty at just eight tracks, there’s more than enough variety here to keep you intrigued – the finale of ‘Frozen In Apathy’ simply writhes with vitality, with the double tracked vocals and post-hardcore-breakdown-esque stabs combining to breathktaking effect. ‘Savour The Flavour’ may skirt too close to Cryptopsy for comfort, but Colonel Blast are far to skilled to fall for mere plagiarism, and they progressive tendencies come good to create an intoxicating mix. Let’s just hope they don’t inflict their version of ‘The Wall’ on us.

http://www.myspace.com/colonelblast