Austrian Death Machine-Total Brutal

Metal Blade
2008

Have you ever wished that someone would make an album where ever song was based on an Arnold Scharzenegger movie? No? Well me neither and I am a fan of his movies. However, Tim Lambesis of As I lay dying obviously had some spare time and he took on this project and even played all the instruments on the first version of the songs, but called in additional musicians to help tighten up the final version. So each song is based on and Arnold film often based on actual lines from a film and it's set to thrash/death metal with the appropriate growling and screaming vocals shoved in. This is a joke album and we all know that and it makes no attempt to be anything else. Maybe this joke would have been funny around oh say 1991 before it was completely old. Yes, Arnold was not a good actor and he thrived on one-liners in overblown action films and we all knew that, but all that has been spoofed, laughed at and done and re-done long before the 1990's were even over. Perhaps this album is a bit more of a laughing tribute than the typical jokes because Lambesis might be of the age of many us who sat there watching these films over and over. Yet still this whole idea is as fresh as stale popcorn from the dollar theater. The music is basic and heavy and the lyrics include verses to sing along because if you know the movie then you know the lines. That's great that Lambesis is doing a project that he wants to it just across as a very dated idea. Quite honestly if I want to laugh or enjoy an Arnold movie or do both at the same time then I'll watch the movie and skip this rather mediocre CD.