RETALIATION: THE EXECUTION
Headfucker

Don’t expect a long review here, because this isn’t a long album -- it’s a 22 song, 15 minute EP from Sweden’s RETALIATION. Though it features DAWN / NIDEN DIVISION 187’s vocalist Henke and DAWN / THY PRIMORDIAL drummer Morth (aka Jocke), you won’t find Black Metal or even much Swedish influence here.

This is unadulterated grind from the early NAPALM DEATH school of insanity. Each track is a barrage of artillery, owing to Jocke’s drumkit abuse while Henke unleashes a multitude of screams, both natural and sonically distorted.

There’s a touch of Swedish to "No One Knows My Grave" that makes it stand out in the holocaust, while "Suicidal Disease" and "The Rest of Me" are done in mere seconds.

Other favorites include "Anorectic Epileptic" and "Another Dead Hero," but if one track hits with you it’s safe to say they all will. There’s also a cover of "Like Weeds," an interesting choice; I didn’t know HIS HERO IS GONE’s notoriety had stretched across the globe.

This goes up there with ASSUCK’s MISERY INDEX for abrupt yet thorough annihilation. As the inside sleeve reads, "Guns don’t kill people, Retaliation kill people." There are certainly worse ways to go.

5 SKULLS

Review copyright 2000 by E.C.McMullen Jr.

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