Blunt Force Trauma, Razr13, and Dead Earth Politics

Overdue hatred for Blunt Force Trauma balls a fist almost a year after the self-proclaimed "ATX Trench Core" quartet first submitted its debut EP, Hatred for the State (Shattered World Records). Slayer massacre World Painted Blood late last year coincided neatly with BFT's second submission of its own brutal bottom line. Bobby Fuentes' vocal trauma would tickle Tom Araya, while bonus track beatdowns of Bad Brains ("We Will Not") and Minor Threat ("Straight Edge") further distinguish the band's no-frills thrashcore. In equally strong voice stews King's X vox Dug Pinnick, who leads local metallers Razr13 on the phosphorus burn of their eponymous platter for Rock Army Records. The two faces of "Jekyll & Hyde" and perfect 1990s swamp dirge "Alive" giving way to bayou ballad "Quicksand" expose a Southern soul to the band's sonic bunker, a concrete monolith hardened by Pinnick's thick throat cum bluesman's lament. Razr13 saves the best for last, "Time to Cry" sludging with a bent guitar snarl into the tolling "Reflections" and heavy Hendrix patriotic churn "4th of July." Sharp disc. Due March 16, Dead Earth Politics' The Weight of Poseidon boasts, "I'll pepper you with a barrage of word fire" out of the gate. Released through the progressive metal fourpiece's local Genuine Recordings, the high-grade graphics and packaging alone mirror the band's genuine ambition. Early El Camino cruise "Dos Cuerpos" belches its two bodies in death-locked Priest mode, while "Once Was Glass" shrieks echoes of Maiden's marches, and the gallop of "Hooked" arrives not a moment too soon. A doomsday SXSW intro seals "Traitor Is a Name," but like 9-minute closer "10/13," the gears of its many movements – as with Poseidon overall – don't always grind smoothly. That won't be a problem at Dead Earth Politics' CD release (Friday, March 12, Encore).