GRIP INC. |
| The tracks are : 1. Isolation (3:38) 2. Amped (4:19) 3. Lockdown (4:01) 4. Griefless (6:05) 5. Foresight (3:47) 6. Human ? (4:51) 7. Vindicate (4:18) 8. Stresscase (2:58) 9. Challenge (3:13) 10. Verräter (Betrayer) 4:10) 11. Bug Juice (5:15) Theres certainly one thing you can't accuse the former Slayer and one of rocks truly greatest drummers of and thats letting the grass grow under his feet. After his much publicized and somewhat acumonous???? departure from Slayer, Dave Lombardo set out to prove to the world of rock that he didn't need Slayer and had enough skill, flair and imagination to go out and make his mark in the big wide world of music. And so he did, firstly with Voodoo Cult and more importantly with Grip Inc. (To be fair Voodoo Cult was was more of a one off affair, but they did make one album and it's worth tracking down for two memorable reasons, the absolute brutal 'Killer Petral' and the rather tongue in cheek 'Albert Is A Headbanger'). The first Grip Inc. album 'The Power Of Inner Strength' was released to universal critical acclaim in 1995 and not only did it confirm what most of us knew already, that Lombardo was indeed a fine musician in his own right, but also that Grip Inc. were a democracy with each band member contributing to the project, which is exactly how Dave hoped it would be. January '99 see the release of Grip Inc.'s 3rd and most ambitious album to date, a collection of innovative, earthy and textured songs, which show Grip Inc.to be a band who are not afraid of experimenting and ? by compromise. Listening to 'Solidify' for the first time is almost like listening to 2 different albums, the first 5 tracks of this 11 track roster concentrate on the hard aggressive side of Grip Inc., Isolation sets Solidify in motion, a first class crossover number with a superb drum rhythm that shows Lombardo hasn't lost his touch, the trash like intro of Amped' is music to the ears, this track also features some excellent vocals and some really fine guitar work, it's not that noticable at first, but the more you play it the more your ears begin to pick out the attention to detail thats been ? put into the number making it for me, the album stand out track 'Lockdown' is a full throttle metal assault to your senses, but because of the clever use of vocals, this is much more thana crossover number. 'Griefless', clocks in at just over 6 mins and is the albums longest track and is the first indication of just how far Grip Inc. have progressed in the creative department, a song full of brutal stabbing riffs, rock solid rhythms and some fantastic first rate technical effects making this another one of Soldify's stand out moments. Oh, and by the way, just listen tio the guitar work about 4 mins in, Brilliant !! 'Human'sees the band in more atmospheric mode, a beautiful haunting number with some fine sound effects and a vocal delivery ranging from spoken wor to the sinister, which gives this song a real eerie vibe. 'Bug Juice' must surely go down as Grip Inc.'s space jam which amongst other things features some excellent flamenco guitar and I'm sure it wont be long before this becomes a real live ? But if all this talk of space jams and sound effects leaves your wanting for your Slayer albums fear not, the nonsense trash of 'Stresscase' will put your mind at ease. Solidify is without doubt Grip Inc.'s finest work to date and quite frankly, if this is the standard we can expect in thr year ahead 1999 is going to be another fine year for metal!! Released by Steamhammer. Distibuted by SPV GmbH, P.O. Box 72 1147, 30531 Hannover, Germany Website : http://www.spv.de |