2006-11-10
While dusting and finally moving my albums from one CD-stand to a another, larger-one (they were getting crowded), I came across this five track demo - though it says there are four, there's a fifth bonus track – that somehow managed to hide from my albums-I-haven't-reviewed-yet-and-need-to-review-eye and stay hidden for quite some time. Curiosity not only killed the cat but also brought me to their site, where it said that about a month ago these German guys released a full-length, "Hollywood Death Scene", and further investigation showed it's been receiving a positive response so far.
Nitrolyt don't take their music too seriously, and one could point this just by the album's title. "J.A.A.S" (=just another angry song) opens with some thick bass and edgy drumwork, and swings from side to side on sand-drawn line between thrash metal and alternative-rock, kinda like a less crazy but thrashy
FNM; lines like "… I love to hate things/ Cause it makes me feel like a man/ I have to hate things/ Cause I'm the singer in a metal band" or "This is just another angry song/ I hate everything and everyone/ This is just another angry song/ Don't know why but I'm screaming not singing" show that Nitrolyt certainly doesn't lack sense of humor.
Other tracks "Incredible Georg" and "Strange Way" tackle heavier grounds and even more humorous grounds while combining some ridicules little synth melodies, pseudo-touching clean parts and hilarious lyrics about some hero ("Incredible Georg/ only you can save us/ Incredible Georg!!!") and a depressed sex slave ("Whips and chains/ Ball stuck in my mouth/ She screams commands/ Say my name outloud") – lyrics which might have been serious if someone like Trent Reznor (
NIN) would have written the music.
"Commercial Break" seems like a
System Of A Down parody, both music-wise and vocal-wise, and for that It wins the title for best track here. The chorus alone made me roll on the floor, all that's missing is S.O.A.D's sound.
To close the show, Nitrolyt chose to do a true metal song – "Commando Metal" – (the aforementioned bonus track) with thrash attitude and NWOBHM riffing, an effected narrator plus swelling guitar riff part to build up the song, a string folk break, and a radio joke – it doesn't get any truer than this, and it's funny because it's true.
One might call what they do an attempt to go
Weird Al Yankovic on metal, but it is quite evident that behind these jokes lies some sort of message. Be it a message that there are a lot of ridicules stuff in metal out there or that sex slavery isn't always a good thing, Nitrolyt sure know how to tell a good joke. I can't wait to listen to what they have to say on "Hollywood Death Scene".
Ofer Vayner
