In an age where metal has gone in so many disparate directions — atonal art-sludge, pretty-boy emo schlock, Scandinavians in complicated undergarments — sometimes a dude (or dudette) just needs to fall back on the basics: lightning speed riffs, monster drums and evil — but intelligible! — vocals. And, basically, that's what you're going to find on Death Potion, the new album by Los Angeles quartet Early Man. Sure, there might be a few production flourishes here, and they might take it slow and low there, but mostly it's just pure metal thrills from beginning to end.
I'm not going to lie: I was really into Early Man's 2005 debut Closing In. They were a pair of Pentecostal kids from Ohio who had moved to New York City and started a way-out stoner metal band. They were on uber-indie Matador Records, leaned heavily on the classics of the genre for inspiration and had lots of the swirly sounds that pair so wonderfully with bong water and Doritos. It was all very zeitgeist-y, all very Brooklyn, all very "Aughts." Death Potion, on the other hand, is very, very metal. They've moved over to The End Records — still a hip indie, but more metal-hip than, say, sweater-vest-hip — and hired on legendary producer Jack Endino (he produced TAD!) to craft an album of bullshit-free brutality.
From the opening distorted-guitar-and-floor-tom-thump of the title track to the Halloween theme-echoing guitarmonies of "Through Chemtrails," on through until the final pummeling moments of "Six Mothers of the War God," Death Potion is a ramming-speed projectile of full-on thrash fury. If you're the sort of person that still holds up Anthrax's State of Euphoria, Megadeth's Peace Sells ... But Who's Buying? or Slayer's Reign in Blood as the greatest works in the metal pantheon (guilty as charged!) you've got yourself a new favorite band. Just try listening to "The Undertaker is Calling You" or "Fight" without throwing on your ratty old D.R.I. T-shirt and throwing a few elbows as you run around the circle pit in your mind.
