Brick Bath - I Won't Live The Lie

dill_the_devil

OneMetal.com Music Editor
Brick Bath - I Won't Live The Lie
J.W.M. Productions - 2001
By Philip Whitehouse

Something a lot of music critics (myself included) forget when reviewing albums is that generally speaking, the public don't count originality as the most important thing in a band's sound. We over-privileged, ungrateful journo types, spoon-fed on PR, free promos and advertising deals, forget that first and foremost, a band should be entertaining to listen to. I have Brick Bath to thank for reminding me of this fact.

Brick Bath sound, at first, second and third listen, like Pantera. This is no bad thing, as having to endure the current trend of third-rate USA-style death metal bands has taught me that I'd much rather hear one Pantera clone than a dozen Morbid Angel rip-offs.

But that's not to say that Brick Bath unashamadely ape Pantera's sound - because scratch beneath the surface and you find that the riffs are more caustic, the drums more battering, the vocals more furious and the bass more.. well... bassy than the whiskey-swilling southern quartet could ever manage.

Dispensing with all notion of subtlety within approximately the first second, Brick Bath batter the listener into submission with the crushing 'Inner Peace' - surely what the band must have acheived after such an exhausting exorcism of personal demons. Second track 'Bone Dry' starts with an air-guitar-tastic riff, while seventh song 'Crucified' contains the most noodlesome, fretboard-ignitingly impressive solo it has been my pleasure to hear in a long time. Full marks to axe-wielder Eric Meyer for this.

Not that the other members don't get to show off, that is - Joseph McCaw manages to pull off a cool (but undoubtedly laryngitis-enducing) singing-cum-shouting combo throughout the album, while Scott Babbel proves that he could show Vinnie Paul a thing or two about stunningly fast double-bass drumming coupled with blisteringly fast fills.

There are a couple of minor quibbles - the outro of 'Simple Life' goes on for a little too long for comfort, and the production of the album largely serves to leave the bass sadly inaudible for much of the disc. And, of course, there's the originality thing.

But then, who cares if Brick Bath aren't the most original band to have ever existed. They play some damned good metal, and that's all that matters. And don't let us self-important journo scum tell you otherwise. Enjoy!

8/10