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FILE UNDER: Grand Theft Autocore
Skarhead - Drugs, Music & SexAlternative Press - Scott Heisel on 11/20/09 @ 7:00 AM - altpress.com
Skarhead's Drugs, Music & Sex opens with the metal-plated ripper "Fuck The Scene," and frontman Lord Ezec immediately lets it be known the New York hardcore veterans didn't return to make friends--except, maybe, with your sister and your mom. "Bitch slap you little ass/Now you're bleeding on the floor/Hot Topic sucks and so do you," he growls as a gang of friends step in to chant "Fuck, fuck, fuck the scene." Aside from occasional record scratches, some borrowed Beastie Boys lyrics and a dub interlude, this is uncut New York hardcore, straight from the streets, Agnostic Front meets Scarface.
A vanload of guests join Ezec (aka Danny Diablo) in the self-described "thugcore ensemble," representing NYC's DMS crew and three generations of hardcore, including Hatebreed frontman Jamey Jasta, Gorilla Biscuits' Civ, Madball's Freddy Cricien, Agnostic Front's Vinnie Stigma, Sick of It All's Armand Majidi and Merauder's Jorge Rosado. The group accurately hype the politically incorrect epic--which is a thematic sequel to the band's debut, 1997's Drugs, Money & Sex--as "the most ignorant hardcore party anthems a band can create." And like the legendary Stormtroopers Of Death project, it's over-the-top from the first line to the last brew.
All the Grand Theft Auto games combined don't deliver this much action. The lyric sheet presents episodes from a blood vendetta fueled by vodka and cocaine, backed up with shotguns, interrupted by the occasional three-way and scored with more shredding, chugging metal than a chop shop. Civ takes the mic on "Bomb The System" then passes it to Ezec, who rhymes like he's driving 95 miles an hour down then wrong lane, hellbound and proud of it: "Fighting for our brothers/Die for our crew/I'm an all-city king/Who are you?"
Unlike most of their NYHC brethren, Skarhead consistently put together hooks, whether they're wielding guitars or just talking shit. Spillover from Ezec's slower, rhythmic Crown Of Thornz project makes the disc enjoyable as more than a vicarious thrill ride. With a crossover rap by Ezec, the gang-vocal groove of "D.F.F." recalls Transplants: "I love my life/Love these whores/Gettin' animalistic behind closed doors." This kind of Saturday night fever ends with a trip to the ER or free clinic. (I SCREAM) D.X. Ferris
GO DOWNLOAD: "D.F.F."
Official Website: http://www.iscreamrecords.com
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