April 2022 Feature Release - The Pit Edition

So just like that we find that a new month is upon us which of course means that we’ll be nominating a brand new monthly feature release for each clan. This essentially means that we’re asking you to rate, review & discuss our chosen features for no other reason than because we enjoy the process & banter. We’re really looking forward to hearing your thoughts on our chosen releases so don’t be shy.

This month’s feature release for The Pit has been nominated by myself. It's the sixth full-length album from US crossover thrash veterans D.R.I. entitled "Full Steam Ahead". I've noticed that crossover does not always get a focus on The Pit features so have thrown in this release from 1995.

https://metal.academy/releases/5634

Crossover thrash & I have had a bumpy journey over the years. I generally like the big name releases but it's very rare that I genuinely love them. I think a lot of this is due to the overall simplicity of the song-writing & composition & this is never more evident than it is on D.R.I.'s sixth & final full-length. I first encountered D.R.I. through my best mate's older cousin via their highly regarded 1985 debut album "Dealing With It" when I was only about 13 years old. I have to admit that I didn't really get it at the time & I still don't today but as I ventured further into their back catalogue I found that their was a fair bit to enjoy in D.R.I.'s late 80's releases which were more in line with my thrash obsession so I kept a casual eye on them moving forwards with each successive release. I would guess that I haven't given "Full Speed Ahead" a listen since the mid-90's though so let's see if my gradually increased affection for hardcore-affiliated metal releases has finally allowed me to fully commit to a record like this one.

"Full Speed Ahead" may have been released in a decade that's regarded by many as a graveyard for thrash metal but you shouldn't expect D.R.I. to have gone all grunge/alternative on us because this record is exactly what you'd expect from them. The thing that I do notice is that it sounds much more restrained & controlled than their early material did. The thrash metal component was certainly very strong by this point in their career with the double-kick drumming being a primary feature. "Full Speed Ahead" is a hugely riff-based album that never tries to over-complicate things & leaves plenty of breathing room. This works a treat on the more up-tempo numbers which showcase the energy & vitality that D.R.I. made their signature over their decade-long reign but the slower, lengthier numbers tend to sound a bit flat & dull at times. D.R.I. are at their best when they're reminding me of the influence they had on Slayer (at least they are for me which is not surprising given my life-long lover affair with the band). Songs like "Drawn & Quartered" leave you with no doubt whatsoever as to where Slayer drew their inspiration for "Reign In Blood" from while the sub-one minute album highlight "Broke" offers up a searing ball of aggression that never fails to get my blood pumping. Front man Kurt Brecht has maintained every bit of his punk integrity with a charismatic (if fairly loose & unpolished) performance that won't disappoint fans of the band's previous work. But it's the drumming of Rob Rampy that's the key contributor here as he plays the most prominent role in the winning or losing of each individual track & shows himself to have a fair amount of chops in the process.

As with so many similar releases over the years, I've found this crossover thrash record to possess enough energy & fun to keep me interested without ever threatening to see me reaching for my higher scores. I find myself quite enjoying about two thirds of the tracklisting but the other third is pretty uninteresting to tell you the truth. The length of the album is also a bit excessive for a crossover release & I have to wonder whether D.R.I. would simply have been better off culling a third of the album & presenting a record of a more consistent quality. In saying that, I'm not actually sure that would have seen me scoring "Full Speed Ahead" any higher than I have as there simply aren't enough high-scoring highlight tracks for that. Ultimately, if you like crossover thrash then you'll probably find some enjoyment here but I'll be surprised if it makes too many top tens.

3.5/5

The social, cultural and political commentary of D.R.I. tends to operate on two levels for me on their final full-length. The sarcasm still drips from every punk-edged pore of their sound as Kurt Brecht inflicts his gruff vocals on the listener, but at the same time the obvious and genuine anger is reflected in their frenetic pacing and punchy rhythms. I think it safe to say that we all knew what to expect from the band by this stage and Full Speed Ahead does not disappoint in that regard; it is D.R.I. through and through. It relies only on the sum of all parts to get its message across without needing to express any extreme outburst in just riffs or vocals alone. That bouncy, crossover tracks its jolly way through the majority of the album, scoring the derisory commentary with an almost engine like tenacity.

Crossover thrash is basically hard to get wrong of course. As a sub-genre it is very niche of course, relying on that crude accessibility to garner appeal. That is not to say that Full Speed Ahead is one dimensional. Tracks like They Don't Care use variety of pace nicely, opening with a doom-paced riff before becoming a more choppy affair. As such it is easy to pick high points on the album as opposed to the album just literally going full speed ahead and passing the listener by in some frenzied fashion. Not all bands who have something to say are able to articulate this beyond predictable intense riffing and furious tempos. D.R.I 's experience shows on their sixth full-length. They are able to use their full repertoire of hardcore punk, and crossover thrash metal to great effect and I think their appeal to both more mainstream as well underground audiences is clear.

I know they have suffered criticism from other hardcore punk bands for their success but this album shows the inevitability of their appeal. I cannot help but feel dialled into this record with each listen, that balance of dark comedy and scathing social angst is mixed really well on here and if you listen repeatedly I find the album sounds angrier with each spin. No crossover album is liable to get full marks from me but I can safely give four stars to this.

4/5

Despite my long-established love of thrash metal and my affection for punk, I have never really been much of a fan of crossover thrash, not helped by early exposure to SOD and their fucking awful Speak English or Die. I have probably only heard about twenty or thirty crossover albums and have rated very, very few above average. Even DRI's own Thrash Zone didn't really register too highly on my cool-shitometer. Well, finally it has come to pass that I have found a crossover album that strikes a chord with me and that I can actually get more out of than a simple shrug of the shoulders. The album takes the hardcore sensibilities of an album like Suicidal Tendencies self-titled debut (that ST themselves never even got close to bettering) and, using awesome-sounding thrash riffs, forges a frenetic, heavy-as-hell, spit-in-the-eye, fuck-you of an album. I mean, the guitar sound here is phenomenally powerful and is what really sets this apart from most other crossover albums I've heard. This is exactly the sort of album that makes me forget my knees are fucked and makes me want to mosh my ass off round the living room - I don't know about feeling like a teenager again, shit, I'll settle for thirty!!

If I had much of a criticism then I think they should have trimmed ten minutes off it - it should be illegal for crossover albums to be over 35 minutes long. Oh, and the CD had one of those fucking irritating hidden tracks on it that you had to wait twenty minutes to get to.

4/5