CoC : Aggression Core - Victim or Enemy : Review

Aggression Core - _Victim or Enemy_
by: Aaron McKay (4.5 out of 5)

This Seattle, Washington five piece outfit is all over metal like flies on a rib roast. Impressively chunky in sound and texture with a power of near limitless range, Aggression Core is far more than a single dimensional extreme death metal outfit. Instead they keep the listener engaged and beset with intrigue, all-the-while kicking their ass with some of the most intense shit this side of my father-in-law's cattle ranch. A wickedly potent pummeling begins the disc with the title track, "Victim or Enemy", and it gets even deeper from there on in. "What Your Life Has Become", while seemingly all-too-familiar in sound, is actually my favorite from the demo. It exercises the strongest aspects of Aggression Core. Chamaeleon-like, this band alternates enveloping styles like so many folds in a origami masterpiece and the sound separation is second to none. If you doubt this, play "Drunk", the final track on the album in your CD player with some headphones; you'll be awestruck, I assure you. Track five, "Dethroned", is a cut you'll be hard-pressed to forget. It introduces so many points of hard-edged intrusion -- while at the same time, taking a "beauty-and-the-beast" countermeasure to keep you off balance -- you will hardly believe what you are hearing. The socially conscious, nearly Pro-Pain-esque lyrics, and current events infused essence of Aggression Core is MORE THAN WELCOME in this "more evil than thou" genre we far too often find ourselves muddling through. Whether it be the Seattle connection or something else entirely, I cannot help but wonder if Aggression Core and Suicide Culture [CoC #48] share the same post office in the state of Washington. While it obviously makes little to absolutely no difference, I am left thinking that if I were Suicide Culture, I'd be finding some way to integrate Aggression Core's potency onto my own. As a side note, I must comment on the back cover of _Victim or Enemy_. The UPC bar-code flag on the CD back speaks volumes to me as an earnest metal devotee, but not because of some misplaced sense of rebellion flowing through my veins. Instead, I see this representation as a band's prerogative to capitalize on creative license. Like Aggression Core's style, it is scorching and harsh, but it sits well with those of a suitable mind-set. This style is most agreeable and, the truth-be-known, while I don very few shirts in support of bands, I would wear an Aggression Core T-shirt proudly if I owned one.

Contact: P.O. Box 47071, Seattle, WA 98146, USA

(article published 16/3/2003)