When Discharge recorded Why and Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing nearly 40 odd years ago, they probably never imagined A. They’d spawn a zillion worship bands and B. The apocalyptic scenarios they warned of would unfold before their eyes. So while Napalm Death spent 2020 interspersing grind and crust with every random subgenre from black metal to darkwave, Perdition Sect kept the d-beat torch lit with their debut album, End Times.
Mind you, this observation is not a dig at Napalm Death. I’m still in the minority who believe they have yet to release a truly bad album. It’s just for the events that transpired this year, I would’ve preferred an album closer to say Harmony Corruption or Utopia Banished than what I ended up with. But that’s alright because there are some moments on End Times that come pretty damn close to those albums.
Perdition Sect is a new supergroup featuring past and present members of Ringworm and Incantation. If their mission was to make an old school crust album with a metallic touch, mission accomplished. At any given time, End Times varies between crust, grind, death metal, and thrash. One second we’re pummeled with dirty Discharge influenced death metal, the next we’re moshing it up mid tempo thrash style.
Speaking of thrash, I can’t help but notice the 80s thrash style solos on tracks like “Scorched Earth Policy”, “Not If, but When”, and “Missed Information”. When it comes to crust, most guitarists opt for “Here’s a blur of random notes to capture the chaos of the song.” as opposed to a proper solo. So it’s cool to hear crust being played by…uhhh…actual musicians.
Aside from the songs mentioned, my choice cut is “Bite the Hand”. As soon as I heard the opening riff, I shouted, “Holy Harmony Corruption Batman!” This riff goes harder than Pac-Man level 256. And if that nerdy reference was enough for you to stop reading this review, I don’t blame you. Check out End Times and prepare to be d-beaten to death.
7 out of 10
Label: Seeing Red Records
Genre: Death Metal/Crust
For fans of: Discharge, Napalm Death, Venomous Concept