Think I Care - World Asylum (2006)

If you've looked at my blogger profile at all, you may have noticed how I feel about Celtic Frost. Think I Care felt the same way, or they at least felt the same way about Sheer Terror, who certainly groveled at the jeweled throne of Tom G. Warrior.

The agenda here is very, uh, primitive. We've got a plethora of chromatic, mid-paced riffs that just force the corners of your mouth down as far down as they can go. Riffs establish a pummeling stomp through down-picking on an open chord, then are offset with a syncopated flurry of fifths. This is done with the intuition of bands like Nuclear Assault or the Cro-Mags, making each deviation a spike in your endorphins. Song structures are typical of post 85 hardcore, with loose verse chorus arrangements leading up to "the big heavy." Depending on your mood and breeding, you may find this fun or you may find this tedious. My argument is that you should loosen up because not everyone wants to listen to Richard Strauss all of the time.

I saw this band many years ago, well before I was smart. As such, I watched respectfully from the side and probably thought about Dillinger Escape Plan riffs or something fucking stupid like that. This may be a false memory, but I think the drummer was playing without bending his wrists at all, delivering a true pre-agriculture beating to a world gone wrong.

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Note: My friend Dave kindly pointed out that the intro to this record is a straight up rip of Cro-Mags - Death Camps. Dave is the most knowledgeable mosher of them all.