New  Album

Aftermath - There is Something Wrong

1994 was a great year for heavy metal in all its guises, we had landmark releases from Pantera (Far Beyond Driven), Emperor (In the Nightside Eclipse), Satyricon (Dark Medieval Times), Machine Head (Burn My Eyes), Kyuss (Welcome to Sky Valley) and a pile of others. It was a very good year for metal. 

Also this year there was a technical thrash band from Chicago landing their debut album of speed obsessed trashy thrash, a full throttle assault, technically adept and as promising a debut as you can hope for. This albums recording was actually started some 4 years earlier, however the release was delayed due to issues with their label (Big Chief Records) going bust. 4 years is a long time in heavy metal, and a thrash album which would have had a real impact in 1990 came out to a world which had started to have a lukewarm approach to thrash metal in general 4 years later. As a result, the debut ‘Eyes of Tomorrow’ was fairly critically acclaimed but didn’t receive the coverage, support or acknowledgement that it deserved from a world of metal which was just shaken by Korn’s debut and had eyes darting towards baggy trousers and daddy problems over leather jackets and problems with the government. Music is sometimes more about timing than quality.

Still, a debut like that, might not be flavour of the month but it’s a great start, can’t wait to see what they released next...

And so the crazy Aftermath story begins, as this album, ‘There is Something Wrong’, 29 years after recording began and 25 since the release of that debut album, is the follow up. It’s not like the band have had nothing to occupy their time between the two albums, going to court with Dr. Dre over their name (seriously), changing band names to Mother God Moviestar and putting out an Alternative Rock album and having a number of compilations and re-releases of their debut and demos being put out, they have been busy creating a story which your average band wouldn’t ever have to think about. You don't read band bio's like Aftermath's very often.

So where does that leave us, have these guys slowed down at all after a 25 year battle to get a second album out, have they become less cynical of the government or generally just chilled out as old age encroaches on them? Of course not, it’s not being young which makes you create thrash, it’s thrash which makes you feel young, and no number of rapper court cases and label collapses can change that. These Chicago speedsters are as cynical of the government and angry at the world as they ever were. 

‘There is Something Wrong’ starts off with a short intro track before hitting you with an abusive start to opener ‘False Flag Flying’, a 6 minute outraged thrash song, it showcases everything you need to know about Aftermath, its fast, its got groove, its got a blazing solo in it, opening lines of "We're back without apathy, we know our enemy" leads the song through its frustration and anger at the world and the worlds controlling organisations, be that government, the church or good old Hollywood, they all get called out and held to account. This continues the theme throughout the album, 'Diethanasia', which is a frankly brilliant title, starts just as fast and furious, this one doesn't have the slower passages and just gets faster and angrier as it goes on, a song which would create a scary circle pit, this is the best song on the album, a perfect song to hear as an intro to the band.

But groove is as much a part of the Aftermath sound as is speed these days and they show that side on 'Scientist and Priest', its a more controlled aggression as the song rolls around a bunch of catchy riffs and fist in the air vocal sections, the song sounds like it has about 4 different choruses and was the song which stuck in my head most after first listen. This song was a minor respite from the speed however as the next song 'Smash, Reset, Control' starts at rapid pace before breaking down into stuttering pummelling song. 'Gaslight' is an almost proggy song with technical riffs and has the best solo on the album which seems to just keep going and 'Temptation Overthrown' is a carbon copy format with technical riffs and great solo, a 3 minutes thrash song which does everything you would want. 

We move to the end of the album and 'Psuedocide' is full on prog-thrash, an almost 7 minute song with a paranoid psychotic intro and a list of conspiracies thrown out, you feel throughout the song very uneasy and can hear the bands resentment of the world around them and then you get the title track, as you would expect from a thrash band, the final song is a fast one, but as most of the album, after the hectic into the band settles into a slightly slower groove, with 'Diethanisia' this is my other favourite song, as it moves on it folds around multiple catchy vocal parts, "no more reason, no more logic" sings Kyriakos "Charlie" Tsiolis, showing a dynamic range of vocals rather than just screaming, the song eases it way out as it eases its way into you mind. Following this the album gives you a 4 minute outro which pulls together the paranoid feeling throughout the album and forces it on you one more time as the album ends, its a fitting way to finish the album off.

Aftermath are a band who could write a biography to best most others with only a single full length album in 25 years, and 'There is Something Wrong' feels like the perfect book end to that 25 year chapter of the band and hopefully the start of something new because this is a very good album. Its fast, proggy, catchy and down right furious at... well everything. And in the current political climate that seems like a pretty good place to start writing music from. This is a band who are certainly not going to be short of inspiration to get the blood boiling. They are angry at the world, but they're experienced enough to write an album with more than just speed, and given us a thrash album of focused aggression, one with real direction for what they are saying and one which knows just who this band really are. Just don't leave it another 25 years next time guys.

KC

9/10

Top Tracks - 'Diethanisia' 'There is Something Wrong', 'Scientist and Priest'