Review by Tobias on October 9, 2001.

I must admit, the first time I heard Brick Bath, I pretty much dismissed them as the very loud children of Pantera. While this assessment is not entirely off the mark, let me give you a cliché beating by saying, credit certainly must be given where it’s due.

Brick Bath has exactly the kind of muscle I look for in metal. These guys have songs you can identify, even in all the rage they like to batter their listeners with. This is chunky metal right to the core, the type of stuff I’ve wanted to hear much more of, particularly with the massive flood of European metal in recent years.

While this band may produce music well fit to a “Best of Ultimate Fighting Championship” video, the song (not sound!) production is a little raw at times, particularly during the second half of the disc when it starts to feel as if you’ve been beating a corpse against a bed of gravel for a little too long.

Every aspect of this disc has definite pros and cons, for instance, the guitars are for the most part, mean, buff and prepped to beat all ass, however, there are times when riffing starts to sound ripped from previous tracks or that some of the licks come across as slightly tired Dimebag Darrell tricks. The drumming too is pretty damn beefy, but it too can on occasion lose its momentum. But this is to be expected, because what you have here is a great band trying to do everything by themselves. This band deserves far more than many others flagship treatment on a good metal label.

Bottom Line: If you’re tired of waiting on Pantera to put out another Vulgar Display of Power, you’ll sport wood before the third track is done on this disc.

Rating: 6.5 of 10