Review by Daniel for Brutal Truth - Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses (1992)

After revisiting this old friend over the last few days I was reminded of just how well it fits under the "deathgrind" tag. In fact, it may well be the definitive example of what that term was originally intended to describe because it easily harnesses both sounds in roughly equal portions & perhaps that's why it appealed to this particular death metal fanatic at the time because I've never quite found the same level of appeal in grindcore as I have in my beloved death metal. What we have here are 15 tracks that span a variety of tempos but are still undoubtedly designed to crush your cranium into a soft pulp. Former Winter drummer Scott Lewis' blast beats were indeed the fastest thing we'd ever heard at the time & I have to admit that I can't think of anyone that's surpassed them since without employing the gravity blast technique. He's an absolute machine & his endurance is very impressive to say that least. The combination of slower grind grooves & super-fast blast beat sections goes down a treat while Kevin Sharpe's deathly vocals are nicely contrasted by some searing high-pitched screams (presumably contributed by Anthrax/Nuclear Assault/SOD bassist Dan Lilker) which I find to be a real highlight. It all makes for a very entertaining ride, if not one that offers a lot of depth below the surface but that's not exactly what most of this record's audience will be looking for anyway. You'll no doubt be able to pick up the band's influences very obviously across the tracklisting with a Bolt Thrower riff thrown in here & a Napalm Death or Death one tossed in there but I have to admit that I'd never realized just how heavily influenced by Carcass' early works Brutal Truth were until now. It's glaringly obvious at times but is executed in more of a complimentary way than a plagiaristic one. But the biggest strength of "Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses" is in its consistency as it sets a very solid standard early on & never lets it dip throughout a relatively long 45 minute run time for this style of extreme music. It's a real shame that Scott Lewis would leave the band shortly after this album & that Brutal Truth would gradually steer away from their death metal side over the coming albums as they'd really hit on something here & never came close to matching it in my opinion.

For fans of Napalm Death, Terrorizer & early Carcass.