Band:	Anticosm
Album:	Anticosm
Style:	Thrash metal
Release date:	August 25, 2015
A review by:	BitterCOld

01. Kill Or Be Killed
02. Where Nightmares Breed
03. Black Magic
04. Root Of All Evil
05. Killing Machine
06. Lunatic
07. Wake Up In Hell
08. Erected From The Grave
09. The Season Of Ill Wind
10. Land Down Under [Men At Work cover]

Glancing at the cover of Anticosm's 3rd release, I wasn't sure what to expect. The artwork features the band rolling in a Mad Max style Mister Plow, crushing corpses while some pentagrammed Dungeons & Doom Beholder floats along like a bastard demonic Raisin Bran "Two Scoops" sun sidekick, looking like it was drawn by a bored freshman during math class raised an eyebrow.

Truthfully, fuck it, it fits.

It's neither profound, nor something that might hang in the Louvre, but it successfully conjures up a decent image of what to expect. A whole lot of sophomoric song titles like "Kill Or Be Killed", "Black Magic" and "Killing Machine." It also reflects the music, which is a raucous, galloping ride across the netherworld, running over corpses and playing speed golf with the skulls of the slain.

There is also nothing subtle about the New Jersey denizens blasting out "black thrash & roll". Nor is there anything particularly innovative. Anticosm is rasped out vocals, galloping riffs, chugging riffs, shredding soli, pounding drums, blast beats, some really nice acoustic interludes in "Black Magic", and, oh, FUN. (See the Men At Work cover which ends the album.)

It's not an album you break out to impress that pretentious music elitist we all have in our lives - the one who will gladly list what he's listening to, but doesn't have 7 seconds to listen to your input.

It's the album you play when he's coming to a party at your house and you, along with a half-dozen friends are aiming to taze the snob, bind them, pour cheap vodka all over them (the kind that comes in a plastic bottle), set them ablaze and toss them off the balcony. Hopefully wearing floaties and into a pool rather than, say, the parking lot.

Anticosm can write some fantastic riffs and even string them together into some good songs. The biggest problem is, well, that whole "droves" thing again. (See also: Exodus, Exhibit B.) They just cram an awful lot of similar sounding music into the release.

When Iron Fist, vaguely similar in style, released an EP earlier this year that I fapped, er, wrote about, it was four songs, 15 minutes. They Saw, They Conquered, They Came, They Hit The Bar For A Round Or Five.

Succinct. To the point. Smash shit up, move on leaving the audience wanting more.

Anticosm's latest would probably have benefited from a similar approach. Editing it down from nearly an hour to the 30-40 minutes that it seems optimal for thrash/death bands would have certainly tightened it up and made it fly by rather than drag on. Can't really fault a band for wanting to give their fans max riffage, but sometimes doing so just makes the album feel drawn out. Kinda like this review.

The end result is I will enjoy their tunes more randomly popping up on my megametal2015 playlist than one after the other.

But hey, go to their site and check out probably my favorite track, "Kill Or Be Killed" and decide for yourself. If you can dig it, on August 25th go to their site and download the whole enchilada. The band are channeling their inner Blutarsky. "Don't cost nothing."