Crisis
Deathshed Extermination
Release
date – March 26, 1996
Metal Blade
Lineup:
Karyn
Crisis – vocals
Afzaal
Nasiruddeen – guitars
Gia Chuan
Wang – bass
Fred Waring
- drums
Whoever
says that girls can’t do metal is an idiot, and this is probably the best
reason why. Karyn Crisis absolutely puts almost any man to shame with her
bloodthirsty growls and her great singing voice. She’s got that combination
that very few vocalists have of really being able to do any style of vocals and
being able to do them well, and she gives a good example of what she can do on
this CD. She starts off blowing every listener away with “Onslaught”, and from
there she continues through the CD at a blistering pace. “Working Out at the
Graves”, “Deadfall”, “Bloodlines”, “Nowhere But Lost”, “2 Minutes Hate”, and
“Aftermath” are the best tracks on this album. Really though, this is an album
where every track at least makes good background music. Karyn Crisis does a
great job on this album. When she wants to sound mean, she sounds meaner than
just about any man out there can, and that’s a huge part of this album. While
the music approaches that death metal level at times, it never totally reaches
that point, therefore remaining somewhat melodic throughout, which is really
something that gives this album its extra charm, its melodies.
The sound
on this album is pretty raw. Any extreme form of rock really needs to rely on a
good job of not putting too much production on it, and they do a great job of
that on here.
This is an
album that is a great example of how women can rock out just as hard as men
can. The brutality mixed in with the melodies is something that many bands have
been trying to do for a long time and very few have succeeded in, but Crisis
hits is on the head. Out of 100 this is an 81.
Track
listing
1.
Onslaught
2.
Working
Out the Graves
3.
Wretched
4.
The
Watcher
5.
Deadfall
6.
Methodology
7.
Bloodlines
8.
Nowhere
But Lost
9.
Different
Ways of Decay
10. Prisoner Scavenger
11. 2 Minutes Hate
12. Aftermath
The Hallowing
Lineup:
Karyn Crisis – vocals
Afzaal Nasiruddeen – guitars
Gia Chaun Wang – bass
Fred Waring – drums
Roy Mayorga – drums
Norman Westberg
Jason Bitner
Chris Hamilton
If Karyn hadn’t proven that
girls could rock out hard with ‘Deathshed’, then by now, she’d proven that and
a whole lot more. This album is an awful lot like the band’s previous release,
but it shows a lot more as they do a lot more experimenting with different
sounds, and that really adds a lot to the overall music. “Mechanical Man” is a
somewhat strange, but exciting way to start the CD. Right away from there, the
CD goes into “In the Shadow of the Sun”, another great tune. “Kingdoms End”,
“After the Flood”, “Surviving the Siren”, and “Come to Light” are the best of
the rest. An album that really does carry that extreme sound of the previous
Crisis releases, but gives you that little bit more with the other elements
thrown in here in good sized volumes for a more complete sound than before.
The sound quality on this album is like before, done right, left
fairly raw in order to emphasize those sounds that need to be and give the
album that heavy atmosphere that it so needs.
This really shouldn’t have to be a case of a woman proving that
she can rock hard, it should just be a case of this being a great album, but
due to some narrow-minded chauvinists, it becomes a case of that, and Karyn
Crisis, through her amazing vocal chords is able to put all of them to shame.
This is really a complete musical output from her and the band, and for that it
gets an 86 out of 100.
Track listing
1.
Mechanical Man
2.
In the Shadow of the Sun
3.
Fires of Sorrow
4.
Vision and the Verity
5.
Kingdom’s End
6.
After the Flood
7.
Sleeping the Wicked
8.
Surviving the Sun
9.
Take the Low Road
10. Disciple of Degradation
11. Come to Light
Avg. band score – 83.5
