By Lane Oliver
Pittsburgh grinding hardcore purveyors, Complete Failure, are back to their old blasphemous tricks again on their new record. The Art Gospel of Aggravated Assault took three years to fine tune and fully harnesses all of that hellacious anger that Complete Failure purveys with great pride. This ten track record makes for a vile twenty-two minutes that most of you hardcore punks will enjoy.
Complete Failure do not waste any time on this album and get straight to the point with every track. Most of the tracks are just under two minutes and the band makes vital use of every second. These ten songs are marked by a raw, metallic sound and an overall crusty, hardcore feel with some speedy grind tendencies. Vocalist Joe Mack’s raspy screams of hatred also add another dimension to Complete Failure’s overall furious sound. The Art Gospel’s first few pages are an intense and deadly “read”. “Mind Compf” kicks things off with a dense bass groove that gives way to the whirlwind of shrapnel that the band’s high velocity hardcore shredding stirs up. After this monstrous opener the songs are mostly straightforward heavy hitters. “Errant Social Mile Marker” and the title track are intense, crusty grind ditties that feature some nausea-inducing tremolo picked madness. As the pages of The Art Gospel continue to turn we see Complete Failure adding little tasty nuances to their overall furious grindcore/hardcore sound without going overboard. Complete Failure conjure up some groovy southern metal-tinged riffs on sections of “Head Hanger to Be” that remind a bit of what bands like Burning Love like to do. The band also explores some dissonant moments on “Drag Migrator” as well as some harsh noise riffage on the end of “Exitist”. But overall this is a solid grinding bastard of an album through and through. Each track is heavier and more malevolent than the last and is sure to please the vast majority of the head banging community.
The Art Gospel of Aggravated Assault is the antithesis to The Gospel of Jesus Christ. While The Gospel tells of salvation and sanctification, The Art Gospel tells of damnation and desecration (through sound of course). Overall, Complete Failure have put together a very solid record. Personally nothing on the record really jumped out and grabbed me and really sucked me in. But The Art Gospel is good for what it is and accomplishes what Complete Failure seemingly went out to accomplish; to make a heavy fucking record.
Rating: 8/10
Label: Season of Mist
Release Date: February 15th, 2013
Favorite Tracks: “Head Hanger to Be”, “Mind Compf”, “Defenseless Mechanisms of Self Inflicted Heartbreak” and “Exitist”.
For fans of: His Hero is Gone, Poison Idea, Dystopia and Nasum.
