Pissing Razors - Where We Come From (2002)

Ya just got to admire any band that still follows the seldom-traveled thrash path these days. Old-fashioned crash-and-burn guitars and guttural vocals are so out of favor with the mindless mainstream that it is refreshing to hear somebody like Pissing Razors pick up the torch and beat the bloody hell out of the listener with it. Where We Come From showcases the Texas foursome’s mighty sound, all tortured vocals and screaming six-string and relentless rhythms that will provide fodder for nightmares long after you’ve put the disc back up on the shelf.

I particularly like the staccato machine-gun riffs of “Vengeance Is Mine,” singer Jason Bragg’s twisted vocals sounding like a leather-winged harbinger of doom while guitarist Cesar Soto’s axe cuts through the mix like a dentist’s drill gone astray. The guitars on “Cursed” teeter on the edge of insanity, squealing and grinding like metal clashing on metal while “Open The Gates” delivers enough raw electricity to induce spontaneous combustion. Pissing Razors follow the same legacy of brutality that fellow Lone Star State madmen Agony Column did back in the '80s, cranking up the volume a notch and delivering no-frills, uncompromising, tough-as-nails, thrash-n-bash heavy metal. Where We Come From is no album for wussy “modern rock” fans or denim-clad poseurs – this is the real stuff, acid-bath aural enjoyment for metalheads who haven’t forgotten what a rock & roll lobotomy is really like. (Spitfire Records)

(Click on the CD cover to buy Where We Come From from Amazon.com)