Review by UnhinderedbyTalent for Brutal Truth - Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses (1992)
My choice of ECDER for feature release is based on the fact that after many years of trying to find a Brutal Truth release that I could get on with, I had to go all the way back to their beginning to finally locate their master opus. Arguably one of death metal/grindcore's best kept secrets, I found the debut release to be for Brutal Truth what Harmony Corruption was for Napalm Death. Both albums represent the perfect fusion of that grinding chaos and abrasive death metal, done with a thrash metal riff mentality all rolled into one album. It is all here for me. The mining death metal riffs, the blitzed structures of the tracks that last mere seconds, and the all out spazzing tsunami of noise that slams over you time and time again.
Brutal Truth do range themselves very nicely on this album. The variation of tempos and pace are not predictable in any way, shape or form and I often find myself not realising the track has moved into a completely different space until I am a few seconds into the moment. My point is that this feels like a very organic and natural album that did not need to be forcibly pulled out in to the open. The experience of the artists comes though both in instrumental aptitude and the social/life awareness that bleeds through in the songwriting.
It is an album that cries out for music videos shot in post-apocalyptic parking lots with burning husks of cars behind the band who just play on relentlessly. The death metal vocals of Kevin Sharp are reminiscent of Benton in the albums more dark moments yet he possesses the perfect grindcore scowl as well. Sharp is also credited with handling all "power tool" duties on the album also I note. Standout performance has to go to Scott Lewis behind the kit though. He is nothing short of astonishing here and drives a lot of the success of ECDER.
For a debut full-length, ECDER is a real strong statement of intent that never really got realised post-release on future records. Had the band continued on this hybrid approach then they would have eclipsed the likes of Carcass and Terrorizer in all honesty as this album scratches the dual dm and grindcore itches so well for me.