The Accused-The curse of Martha Splatterhead

Southern Lord
2009

I remember a time when the worlds of metal and punk seemed very different to me. Being a a diehard metal fan I once thought punk rock was so alien and far off. Like a distant world and I am sure some punk rock fans had similar notions about metal. Around the mid-late 80's these two worlds started to come together to an extent rather than collide. We got the brief crossover movement which saw bands mixing hardcore punk and usually thrash metal. From this there was a certain acceptance from both sides. My first exposure to the Accused was when I head "More fun than an open casket funeral". There was something about the lyrics and the band's whole approach that very much appealed to me and they had much in common with what thrash bands of the time were like. Yet there was a certain noisy, harsh quality that had more in common with hardcore acts of the time. In addition to the above there was a certain groove squeezed in amongst the chaos. Forward two decades and this band has been through a lot, but they don't sound a whole different than they did when I first heard them. They still don't pause to hardly take a breath and they just rattle forward like a locomotive at full force. Maybe there is more of a metal influence to their sound this time around as I can heard some older Metallica and Anthrax influenced bits in the mix. They know to keep it short and simple, but it's still tight and brutal enough so as not to seem dated although the roots go back a few years. Whether it's splattercore, crossover or whatever this long running still know how to rip into their material like a hungry beast. They don't break any new ground, but they still know how to deliver intense and brief neck-breaking blasts.