:: The Berzerker - Animosity

The Berzerker

When The Berzerker unleashed their self-titled debut album in 2000, it redefined the meaning of pure audio terrorism within the metal scene. With elements of grindcore and death metal melded together with heavy industrialised beats, The Berzerker put a whole new spin on the traditional death/grind sound, and in the process created a sound for themselves that was as original as it was brutal. In the years since, the Melbourne based act have evolved and changed with every new release, with 2005’s ‘World Of Lies’ pushing well beyond 2002’s ‘Dissimulate’ in terms of aggression and stronger song structures. Now onto their fourth release, The Berzerker has once again upped the ante, with ‘Animosity’ again pushing the ‘pure audio terrorism’ envelope to new extremes. Even at just under a half an hour in length, the ten tracks on ‘Animosity’ is a test of endurance, with the opening track ‘Eye For An Eye’ an absolutely relentless blast for its two-minute duration. The hammering programmed drums, Kenny’s caustic vocal delivery and the sheer speed of the guitars on ‘Eye For An Eye’ lends a whole new extremity to The Berzerker’s sound, all the while forging a new path for the band with the carefully crafted chorus structures standing out amongst the total onslaught. ‘Purgatory’, ‘Lonely World’ and ‘Evolution’ criss-cross between slower/rhythmic and the more extreme tempos to allow some respite to the listener following the pure blast of the opener, while ‘False Hope’ follows on in similar style, with some inventive slide work enhancing the near disaster sounding moments of speed that crop up from time to time. But for the most part, it’s tracks such as ‘No More Reasons’, the riff led ‘Retribution’, ‘Weapons Of War’ and ‘Heavily Medicated’ that will stand out amongst long time fans of The Berzerker, with the emphasis on speed primarily the driving force behind the group’s unique wall of noise. If you were to combine the melodic tendencies of ‘World Of Lies’ with the intensity and speed of their self-titled debut, then the result would be ‘Animosity’. The subtle songwriting changes that were hinted at on ‘World Of Lies’ have definitely been explored and built upon further on ‘Animosity’, and with great success. But there’s also an added injection of fire and venom into the band’s sound too, which is something that hasn’t been matched since their debut. In the past, The Berzerker has always been over the top in every conceivable way, and thankfully, ‘Animosity’ continues down that very same path.