Better than Buger King
idvego | Alabama | 08/11/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Back in the day, Earache ruled the land of Metal releasing such hit bands as Carcass, Morbid Angel, Terrorizer and Napalm Death. Phenomenal they may have been, but I've always found Earache's true legacy to be in bands like Lawnmower Deth, the mighty Naked City, (NAKED CITY!!!) O.L.D., Sore Throat and, yes, Spazztic Blurr. It was a sub-genre the English label seemed to specialize in at the time, intense and comedic metal, bands that leave your jaw dropped but manage to crack you up at the same time...Spazztic Blurr hailed from Portland, OR and contained guitarist and vocalist of NRR's thrash superstars Wehrmacht. This is their sole LP (well, not exactly true; Stop Torture Records released their demo on a split LP w/ Brutal Truth's last year. It's limited to 250 copies, so hurry up!!) and stands as one of my trans-genre top fifteen to this day. The drumming is a blur by all means, as they completely outperform Brian LeFehldt's work on any of Wehrmacht's releases. (LeFehldt's the drummer for Everclear now!) Likewise, the guitar riffs are faster and far more creative in Blurr than the Macht; not just because they jump from thrash to surf to ballad and back again, but because they actually are written far more maturely. But let me go back a bit. For those of you not familiar with Blurr, the whole "jumping" concept may need some explaining. They're extremely similar to old Naked City in this sense that one second they're pumping out extremely fast metal, the next you get a christmas carol (but don't count out Eric's brutal freakin' drumming during those silly parts!) and they're playing surf. It's unpredicatble. It's intense. It's fast. It's funny. The lyrics transcend random silliness with hilarious criticisms of the metal and punk scenes. They constantly urge others to "be creative" and warn that "if you're serious, you lose." There are numerous moments of resentment towards the ostracization of metalheads in the dominant punk scene as well as emphasized spite towards "generic punk." The Blurr truely were the prophets of their time. Additionally, a lot of seemingly inside jokes are included (Bouge Jonzin, He-Not-A-Home) and references to various aspects of 70s and 80s generational pop culture. It's stuff you can relate to. It's stuff you can reminesce with. It's just fun.The production suffers somewhat, though it's not horrible. The guitars can be a little muddy, as can the drums, but it's far better than "Reek of Putrefaction" or anything AC ever released. There is a lot of studio work, various sound effects and the like dropped in, and that also makes it a lot funner. In this sense, it's definitely an "album," the artist's actualized vision. The booklet to this CD version is supposedly packed with some extra pages, but I can't tell you much about that as I only have the LP.In other words, buy it. If you've heard of Spazztic Blurr and you're checking this out, I have little doubt that this album is for you. If Lawnmower Deth was too tame, if Naked City was too unlistenable, if DEVO just didn't touch enough of that Earache sound, then check out the Blurr, it's thrash the way it should have been played (so long as no one ever heard it.)"
Two words:
D. K. Malone | earth | 03/27/2002
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Comedy Thrash.I tried getting into these guys back when this came out, because I was a big Wehrmacht fan. But back then I took music a little too seriously. I wrote this off as a bunch of stoners renting a studio for a week and acting like idiots. The thing is, that's exactly what this record is... you just need to be able to get over yourself and relax and appreciate it. I crack up every time I listen to Bouge Jonzin. And I should say that just calling this "thrash" isn't really fair. It's mainly thrash, but it's also.... well, it's all over the place. These guys could really play. Guitarist Marco "Sharko" is sort of equal parts Bedroom Guitar Boy Wonder and your average garden variety speed metal god; a rough-around-the-edges virtuoso. Kids who grew up in the 70s and 80s + pot + cartoons + pot + serious musical talent + pot = SPAZZTIC BLURR"
SPAZZTIC BLURR RULES!
Alex Breton | Shelton, ct. United States | 10/22/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is the ultimate hardcore album. If you like Wehrmacht, you will love Spazztic Blurr. The record is VERY rare, and you should snatch up this CD while you still have a chance! This album really brings back memories... Old school...
-Xela"
Track Listings (13) - Disc #1
