BRUTAL TRUTH — Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses (review)

BRUTAL TRUTH — Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses album cover

Album · 1992 · Deathgrind

3.5/5 · 2010-04-06
UMUR

"Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses" is the debut full-length studio album by US grindcore act Brutal Truth. The album was released through Earache Records in October 1992. Brutal Truth were formed by former Anthrax, Nuclear Assault, and S.O.D. bassist Dan Lilker who left Nuclear Assault after the recording of "Out of Order (1991)" as a consequence of internal turmoil within that band. Dan Lilker´s involvement in a brutal grindcore act like Brutal Truth might have surprised some at the time but for those who knew about his involvement in S.O.D. and the "Speak English or Die (1985)" album it didn´t come as such a big surprise that Dan Lilker also loved aggressive hardcore influenced music. It´s worth mentioning that "Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses" spawned two music videos for the tracks "Collateral Damage" (a 4 seconds long video) "Ill Neglect".

Stylistically the music on "Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses" is grindcore with death metal elements. The vocals by Kevin Sharpe are mostly deep death grunts but he also masters a higher pitched screaming vocal style which result in the vocals being pretty varied for the style. The music of course features tons of blast beats but again there are variations in pace which means that the album isn´t one long blast beat fest. There are many mid-paced to fast sections on the album too, so rhythmically the album is also a relatively varied listen.

The tracks are generally pretty short but there are also a couple of longer tracks on the album. Featuring 15 tracks (the 1995 reissue features 3 bonus tracks) and a full playing time of 45:04 minutes the album isn´t too long which is always a danger with music this extreme. Brutal Truth manage to strike the right balance between being relentlessly aggressive and brutal but not become one-dimensional or monotone. The exception is the 10:51 minutes long closing track "Unjust Compromise", which features 5 minutes of silence (after the almost 6 minutes of music that preceeds it) before a 11 seconds long hidden track ends the album. Silent endings to albums are always a waste of the listener´s time (and money) and in my book it always devaluates a product when a band opts to include them. Why on earth would you want to annoy your audience? That aside the rest of the material and the flow of the album are pretty great.

The individual musicianship on the album is impeccable and together Brutal Truth are a tight playing unit. The Colin Richardson production is well sounding for the period and raw and powerful to boot. There´s no arguing that "Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses" is a classic grindcore release (although it´s not necessarily original) and it´s one of those albums that´s a mandatory listen, if you´re interested in grindcore with death metal elements. It´s at the same time a promising debut album for Brutal Truth that instantly put them on the grindcore map of the 90s. It´s not completely without flaws though (I mentioned the annoying silent ending above, and the lack of an original sound isn´t a plus in my book either) and therefore a 3.5 (70%) rating is fair.