Sickbag - Bushido Codex
Sickbag are self-described as crossover grindcore. They employ the same urgent death metal vocal style as sported by such bands as Emeth, Himsa or perhaps Dillinger Escape Plan (a band they list as an influence). This type of shrieking evokes more of a sense of panic than it does aggression, you know, kinda like if comedian Bobcat Goldthwait were a metal singer (of course he did open for Nirvana for a while there)!!!
What also stands out is tightness. The guitar and bass parts have fat tones, and they double and they lock into the bass drums with machine-like precision. It's all one cohesive unit that rips seamlessly through enemy lines and rolls over the opposition in a rather ruthless, bone-crushing fashion. In other words, they are tight as fuck. Sickbag have shared the stage with bands such as Emeth, Dismember and Squash Bowels and played the Obscene Extreme Festival in the Czech republic in 2006.
Sickbag have been around a few years and done some EP's and split albums as well as being included on some compilations, but "The Bushido Complex" is their first full-length. The CD title apparently refers to the Samurai "Way of the warrior" which originated in medieval Japan. The CD also includes sound clips in Japanese language segueing between the third, fourth and fifth tracks and there a Japanese koto intro at the beginning of track 8 ("Whose Next"). There are a couple of places on tracks 8 and 9 where the vox sound a little like P.O.D. or one of those more commercial bands in the U.S.
The last track, "Empire Of Disgust" opens with an out of tune barroom-type piano intro and then the rest of the song is a more typical death metal offering. I'm not quite sure I understand why bands do this kind of thing where they open a song a certain way and then the rest of the song does not resemble the intro at all. I mean if you are going to have a sound clip that is one thing, but if you're going to open a tune for 30 seconds or even a minute with a certain sound or style and then just ditch it for the rest of the song so that it can still be considered a "metal" song it doesn't make much sense to me.
What also stands out is tightness. The guitar and bass parts have fat tones, and they double and they lock into the bass drums with machine-like precision. It's all one cohesive unit that rips seamlessly through enemy lines and rolls over the opposition in a rather ruthless, bone-crushing fashion. In other words, they are tight as fuck. Sickbag have shared the stage with bands such as Emeth, Dismember and Squash Bowels and played the Obscene Extreme Festival in the Czech republic in 2006.
Sickbag have been around a few years and done some EP's and split albums as well as being included on some compilations, but "The Bushido Complex" is their first full-length. The CD title apparently refers to the Samurai "Way of the warrior" which originated in medieval Japan. The CD also includes sound clips in Japanese language segueing between the third, fourth and fifth tracks and there a Japanese koto intro at the beginning of track 8 ("Whose Next"). There are a couple of places on tracks 8 and 9 where the vox sound a little like P.O.D. or one of those more commercial bands in the U.S.
The last track, "Empire Of Disgust" opens with an out of tune barroom-type piano intro and then the rest of the song is a more typical death metal offering. I'm not quite sure I understand why bands do this kind of thing where they open a song a certain way and then the rest of the song does not resemble the intro at all. I mean if you are going to have a sound clip that is one thing, but if you're going to open a tune for 30 seconds or even a minute with a certain sound or style and then just ditch it for the rest of the song so that it can still be considered a "metal" song it doesn't make much sense to me.
2. Hibakusha
3. Dirty Ego
4. A Perfect World Of Shit
5. Year Zero
6. Le Gang Des Postiches
7. Room 57
8. Whose Next
9. Without Lucky Star Hero
10. Empire Of Disgust
Deformeathing Production
Reviewer: mykke
Feb 26, 2009
Feb 26, 2009
Next review:
Siamese Brutalism Assault - Split
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