GENERATION KILL — Red, White and Blood (review)

GENERATION KILL — Red, White and Blood album cover Album · 2011 · Crossover Thrash Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
Time Signature
Feast for the crossover-heads...

Genre: Crossover

Crossover is the unlikely, but unavoidable, bastard child of hardcore punk and thrash metal and, at its best it captures the sheer energy of hardcore punk and the aggression and focus on musicianship from thrash metal and balances them perfectly. And this is pretty much what Generation Kill do on their debut album.

After a slightly Middle-Eastern oriented acoustic guitar intro, 'Hate' kicks off with a straight in-yer-face hardcore riff and bombards you with raw energy. Soon thrash metal elements are infused into the track which also contains a heavy coda. This pretty much sets the tone of the entire album, some of the tracks, such as 'Hate', 'Red, White and Blood', and 'Depraved Indifference' being more oriented towards hardcore punk, while tracks like 'Feast for Wolves', 'Walking Dead' and 'Let Me Die' are more leaning towards thrash metal.

While the subject matter of the album appears to be a serious one (with plenty of references to killing and destruction), Generation Kill are not above injecting a dose of humor, which is reflected in, for instance, the title track, which appears to be a satirical critique of certain aspects of aggressive US foreign policy - complete with references to Inuit vaginas and a twisted guitar lead rendering of the American national anthem. This sort of humorous approach is not unusual to crossover metal and is inherited from both hardcore and thrash metal.

So "Red, White and Blue" is full of typical crossover elements, but Generation Kill also reach out beyond the boundaries of thrash metal and hardcore in the direction of alternative rock and sludge rock - as in the chorus of 'Feast for the Wolves', all of 'Self Medicating' and the groovy Southern metal inspired semi-doomy 'Slow Burn' (which has a nice surprise for you towards the end). 'Dark Ways' and 'Section 8' are quieter tunes, the latter even being a bit creepy, and NIN fans can look forward to a bonus track cover version of 'Wish'.

While more modern in sound and drawing on groovy metal, Generation Kill's debut album should appeal to fans of hardcore, thrash and crossover, and sludgeheads who like more uptempo music might find it appealing, too.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Hin helga kvöl Atmospheric Sludge Metal
SÓLSTAFIR
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Cycles of Suffering Black Metal
BURIAL OATH
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Suns of Perdition - Chapter IV: To Shadow Zion Black Metal
PANZERFAUST
Buy this album from MMA partners
Facilis Descensus Averno Death Metal
SAEVUS FINIS
Buy this album from MMA partners
Merciless Crossover Thrash
BODY COUNT
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

DAWN OF REVENGE - Sanctuary [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 6 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Farewell [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 6 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Curtain of Death - [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 6 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Vengeance [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 6 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - I Need You [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 6 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed