Review by JD on January 26, 2010.

Choose Your Poison hailing from the wilds of Wisconsin have a extreme amount of anger, aggression and sheer balls.... and are seemingly channelling every last ounce of it on to their EP called "Laid To Waste". Choose Your Poison is a combination of old school Hardcore meeting some bastardized version of Thrash and while adding into the heavy concoction with some of the crossover scene of the mid-80's.

The album they have came out with is a very short one, clocking in at roughly seven and a half minutes of music. Each of the songs are really damned short as well (all but one song clocking in at under two minutes)... yet Choose Your Poison are brutally heavy and completely uncompromising in the way they have written and delivered them all. Production muddies them a little, but it actually helps a little as well.

Taking the time to really listen to the album more than six times, I heard some very interesting things happening throughout the playing of the EP. It all ended up reminding me of such acts as Stormtroopers Of Death, very early C.O.C (‘Eye For An Eye’ days) and even some classic explosiveness ala the kings of true furious hardcore, Black Flag... yet they have some early Thrash inspired tendencies as well. Makes for a really interesting hodgepodge of heavy goodness.

While Choose Your Poison is an unabashed pure punk band at the very core, they are also dedicated students of the very early forms of Speed/Thrash as well... this is exactly what makes this band so damned dangerous. Punk attitudes meeting up with that added bonus of burgeoning metallic talent... Scary, huh?? They are on the road to be more than just pretty good, but they are in the building phase at the moment.

Categorical Rating Breakdown　

Musicianship: 6.5
Atmosphere: 8
Production: 7
Originality:6.5
Overall: 8

Rating: 7.2 out of 10