The definition of the word obliterate is to wipe something out completely, to utterly destroy whatever the intended target might be. In the case of Los Angeles based Obliterations this is exactly their intent with every track on their newest full-length album, Poison Everything.
Somewhere in the extreme music timeline the worlds of punk and metal came together to procreate various musical babies, including crust/d-beat and crossover thrash. Obliterations have seemingly found a sewer pipe of a wormhole and come crawling back through the sludge, covered in the afterbirth of the likes of Discharge, Amebix, Motorhead, and Celtic Frost, among others. Poison Everything is a nasty, dirty record from start to finish. From the almost black metal like emissions of a track like “Shame” to the anthemic punk and roll of tracks like “The One That Got Away” this is a home run of an album that touches all the metal bases, and proceeds to give the middle finger to your mother as its rounding third, just because. In this respect Obliterations indeed have poisoned everything, taking such hallowed metal influences and mixing them together into a brutal concoction that remains both distinctive and perpetually aggressive.
Therein lies the key to why this album stands out from the crowd. This is a band that minces pretense while claiming their sound as wholly their own. Obliterations are like a group of rabid dogs that bust into a party only to leave their piss marks all over the place after they’ve chased away the poseurs. This house has now been cleared of those who are false and claimed in the name of vigorous musical belligerence. But note, this is not some goofball, retro crossover act that spends their days espousing the virtues of cheap beer. No, the message and the delivery are much more sinister, much more dangerous. Obliterations has succeeded in carrying the same, black-flamed torch their forefathers torched entire villages with. Simply put this is a band that hits on every unrelenting cylinder from note one to the finish line.
Poison Everything is out now via Southern Lord. You can experience the entire album at the Southern Lord Bandcamp page.
