Russell HughesSiberian Meat Grinder – Metal Bear Stomp (Destiny Records)
Genre: Crossover Metal
If you name your band Siberian Meat Grinder you’re going to have to live up to the nihilistic image that name conjures in the imagination.
Those three words summon images of a cold, inhospitable land combined with the bone-crushing, limb-tearing violence of the meat grinder.
And in a way, Metal Bear Stomp is an amalgamation of those two idea in audio form. The boys from Moscow are loud, aggressive and assertive in a way that should be celebrated.
A deafening mixture of thrash, metal, hardcore and rap characterises the sound and when it’s combined with a breathless delivery you have an album that doesn’t pause for breath and refuses to stop rocking.
Can’t Stop Won’t Stop is a perfect example of this. It’s so fast and furious that the Rock will probably use it to as inspiration for the next installment of his endless film franchise. Despite the frantic nature of the tune, the fists-in-the-air call and response chorus line adds a perfectly structured melody to the song that hooks you on first listen.
Vocalist Vladimir gets things off to a perfect start on Rouder Than Thou and his rockin’ rap vocals have clear shades of Rage Against The Machine. It’s not Rage, but you can see how it might be Rage in another time.
Siberian Meat Grinder are led by the mighty Bear-Tsar and their blend of technical, speed, thrash and hardcore metal will undoubtedly impress their mysterious overload as well as their fans from across the globe.
Metal Bear Stomp is littered with examples of excellence and unexpected surprises, the key one coming as SMG dropped a few lines from House of Pain’s Jump Around into album closer Walking Tall.
The danger of trying to do everything is that the band accomplish nothing. While this album might not fly the crossover flag as high as would be expected – the main sound is a high energy thrash/speed metal – Siberian Meat Grinder have still blown the cobwebs off the metal scene.
RUSHONROCK RATED: 8/10 Red hot Russians