Seizure Crypt ~ Under The Gun (album review) ... Moonlight madness from the graveyard!

Style: punk, hardcore, speedcore
Label: Bad Elephant productions
Year: 2008
Home: New York

Members: Thomas "The Madness" Reardon ~ vocals
Michael "Sos" ~ lead guitar/vocals
Grand Mal D Ranged ~ bass
Doug Williamson ~ drums

A cacophonic deluge of socially relevant musical madness now into their third album. This is slam your head against the wall mosh pit music ... though these guys sound so outta control they're smashing their heads to save you the headache. Music is often thought of being smooth ... flowing from one riff or break to another, vocals that echo each other to make a choir, instruments that work off each other to form a lead/rhythm melodic experience ... SC is anything but. There's a jagged guitar line slamming into a wall at the same time as a couple vocal lines are shouted out with no sense of melodic counterpoint, while a rhythm section attempts to destroy its instruments with every beat & once in a while everyone has to take a breathe before the next slam with a momentary guitar or bass run to fill the space. Slamming into the wall at the same time, while all playing the same song of course, & seeing how the result sounds from this chaotically charged experience is an apt visual for the energy of SC. It's not that every instrument is playing something different or aiming for odd counterpoint creativity in some prog-metal ecstatic moment. This is hardcore & speed metal where everything sounds like it's going to fall apart but actually it's far from a bunch of punks not knowing how to play their instruments or trying to just make noise but rather tight arrangements that sound deceptively out of control. It's speed mixed with a lot of changes & sounds like a pain to rehearse but makes for a high energy live show of showering surprises. At barely over 20 minutes the album hits a perfect mark of tearing through an array of songs, though sometimes its hard to distinguish when one starts & another begins, without ever getting tedious in its onslaught & leaves a listener satisfied that they've got SC growling in their best moonlight madness. Not for every metalhead but those who enjoy the chaotic nature of hardcore & speed will probably enjoy checking out SC, if for no other reason than their multiple vocals attack that's a highlight of the experience.