Review by Carl on September 1, 2024.

This one showed up on my 'noisy old school underground shit' radar because this band features Karl Patton of Impulse Manslaughter and Alehammer repute, and it has to be said: whatever expectations I had surrounding this release, the band manages to live up to them.

Stylistically, Namland walks down the path that was paved in the late '80s and early '90s by such noisy bastards like Doom (UK), Extreme Noise Terror, and Disrupt, with an added smattering of "Scum" era Napalm Death. The primitive crust/hardcore riffing gets propelled forward by the relentless jackhammering d-beat drumming, poured into abrasive short, and volatile songs. It's a style that immediately brings to mind the stuff that was churned out in the UK around the second half of the 80s by soap-dodging misfits such as Ripcord, Chaos UK, Heresy, and those other Brit acts mentioned above. What grabs the ear most on this platter is the dual vocal attack, one a hardcore punk shout and the other a gruff guttural grunt, an element to their sound definitely borrowed from the already mentioned ENT and Namland's fellow countrymen Disrupt. It is not a style heavily reliant on technical prowess or intricate song structures, but more the other way around. The music is simple, abrasive, and to the point, with that last one perhaps best exemplified here by the 8-second blastbeat strike "Ash Wednesday". It's music in a way I like best, really. Aggressive and to the point, you simply can't beat that, you know.

Now, while the music on offer is simple, raw, and abrasive, the same can be said about the production, a term I'm using quite loosely here, by the way. These are 2 track recordings, and a band does not have a lot of room to play around with something like that. Mind you, this is not unlistenable or anything like that, but the sound is definitely raw and most certainly unpolished. The guitars have that sandpaper-like buzzing vibe to 'em, while the two vocalists are struggling to get on top of each other, while the drums (cozily tucked away in the background) are mostly diminished to a battering snare drum and an undefined rattling of cymbals. Somewhere in there is also a bass guitar as well. The balance between the different elements in the music also shifts from track to track, with the vocals sometimes way up front, other times more into the background, with only the guitars more or less on a constant level throughout. Again, this is raw and unpolished, yet not unlistenable, and this approach to recording simply goes well with music that sounds equally rough 'n' ready.

While this is a pretty niche style of music, enveloped in a pretty inaccessible sound mix to boot, I still like this stuff. As a band, Namland wasn't exactly on the same level as the aforementioned ENT or Disrupt, being decidedly more rough around the edges when it came to composing and execution of their music, but I still find this an entertaining little platter. It does not skimp on either aggression or intent and simply goes for the throat in a none-too-subtle way, something I can totally appreciate.

This type of stuff certainly isn't for mass consumption, but if you're into old-school raw crust/grind, check it out, I'd say.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Review by Felix on April 9, 2024.

Carnivore achieved cult status. Guess this cannot be denied. I just do not understand why. Their crossover thrash commutes between punk-infused, short eruptions and drug-imbued, multi-layered heavy metal stompers. But in hindsight, it seems to me that they focussed too much on provocation. Cheap provocation, to be clear. At first glance, “Race War” with lines like “Your skin’s an ugly colour” seemed to indicate a right-wing band (abominable thought), but “no one wins, we all lose” left some loopholes open for the band. Music-wise, this opulently designed track with double bass supported mega-heavy verses and some speedy sequences indicate a solidly working unit. This is no isolated case. “Retaliation” features a band that acts like a well-oiled machine. Okay, I must say that some parts of the songs are going nowhere. Nevertheless, the band’s song-writing usually shows no serious signs of weakness, neither when it comes to punk-inspired sections nor when the musicians walk on metallic territory.

On the other hand, outstanding tunes are missing. “Retaliation” transports a lot of attitude and was probably an inspiration for later hardcore combos like Biohazard. But the song material itself is just okay, nothing more. Of course, one can enjoy “Angry Neurotic Catholics” or “Ground Zero” to a certain extent, but the constant self-pity of Peter Steele (R.I.P.) is hard to endure. His messages are “My only wrongdoing was being born”, “I wish you had left me unborn” or “Somebody put me out of my misery” – and these excerpts are taken from three different tracks. Insult to injury, Steele’s lyrics are also pretty dubious (“Skins and Bangers joining fight as one”) or / and full of nonsense. “His mother a nun raped by a nazi”, “Reich und roll”… eh what? But I acknowledge, lyrics are just lyrics and music is music (you didn’t know this before, I guess…). So I apologize for this phrase, let’s get back to the music.

The entire B side is a pretty joyless experience. No, the songs aren’t bad and Steele’s bass adds some casual moments. His vocals are (regardless of the lyrical content) powerful and sound natural. His comrades do a technically fine job as well. I also recognise that, just like Nuclear Assault, the three dudes went their own way. In a polarised world of posers and thrashers, Carnivore didn't allow themselves to be completely taken over by the latter side. But the songs lack catchy sections, musical brilliance and a total flop like the Jimi H. cover (“Manic Depression, of course…) or the completely boring instrumental do not make things better. From this follows that songs like “S.M.D.” (from the A side) or “Technophobia” do not leave a lasting impression, at least in my humble opinion) and choruses like the one of “U.S.A. for U.S.A.” want to create an Agnostic Front compatible hardcore feeling, but their impact is small.

As said before, Carnivore’s cult status cannot be denied. “Retaliation” scores with a proper production and its artwork mirrors the apocalypse in a very easily understandable way. But it cannot fulfil the expectations when it comes to the most important thing, the music itself. Once again, the songs are mostly somewhere between solid, acceptable and okay, but far away from justifying the word cult. Just my two cents, I hope you do not understand this as a provocation.

Rating: 6 out of 10