20 October 2012

Final Massakre - 1999 - The Bells Of Hell Toll The Final Chime 7″

The back of the sleeve proclaims this record to be ‘Full Metal Jacket D-Beat Raw Punk’.  That means this record must be from Portland, OR,  the land of D-Beat Raw Punk.  This short-lived group featured Frank (from ATROCIOUS MADNESS and LEBENDEN TOTEN) on vocals, Brian Hopper (from DETESTATION, HELLSHOCK, etc) on guitar, and Kelly (RESIST, DETESTATION, etc) on drums.  This EP, courtesy of Tribal War Records, features 6 tracks, all played at a furious pace – the longest track is 1:21.  What you get is a solid D-Beat, manic guitar riffs, and some gasoline-throated vocals.
My only criticism of the sound is that the drums and vocals dominate too much.  I like my crust to have a thicker bass guitar sound, but on here the bass only stands out during a break on Death From Below.  There are times when Brian Hopper plays some furious lead breaks, but they are barely heard in the mix.  Only the lead break on We Stand In Silence gets a solid volume boost.  Nonetheless, this is worthy of being in your collection.  FINAL MASSAKRE only issued a few releases and they’re all worth tracking down.

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