Total Massacre
“Pro-Life Death Cult”
Self-Released
Released : February 15, 2021
LA’s Total Massacre are back with the second of their series of six digital singles, Pro-Life Death Cult. As promised.
Pulling influences from mid-80s punk and hardcore bands, Total Massacre use the K.I.S.S method (Keep It Simple Stupid). Revolving largely around a tried and tested recipe that has worked for decades. Power chords and angst. To the point and heavy on awareness. Total Massacre play punk the way punk was meant to be played. What it was created for. Political. Driven. Rough around the edges and will stab you with a butter knife.
The sole track, Pro-Life Death Cult, starts off with a driving bass line and then into a slow build. I believe this approach would work well on a full-length recording, but when you spend the first fifty-one seconds building up to the punch line of a song that only lasts a minute and a half, you’re not really leaving much room to give a lasting impression. As I mentioned in the review of the first single in this series, releasing six one-track singles could be a good way to fish for new fans. To strut your stuff, so to speak. However, if you take this approach, it would be wise to assume the ears you’re playing to are unfamiliar with what you’ve done previously. We don’t get that here.
See Also : Total Massacre “Get Rich Or Try Dying” Review
Like in the movie Se7en; we might need to wait until the whole puzzle is laid out before we can fully appreciate this body of work. Understand the head in the box. We’re two thirds of the way in with a long ways left to travel. So far though, this second effort falls short of the first but that’s fine, because any album you can name will have tracks that are stronger than others. By no means does this mean this is a bad track. For the reasons I gave above, I feel it is a little off. Once the song does get underway, we get a strong power chord driven track with a powerful vocal ripe with spite. Edge. Spirit. Something to say. I eagerly await the next installments.
This track, as well as the first will be available from the band’s bandcamp page on a pay what you can basis. It is a digital only single, so what do you have to lose? Give these guys a two minutes of your life.
For Fans Of : Gang Green, Blood For Blood, Propagandhi
Track Listing:
01. Pro-Life Death Cult
