Album Reviews : Austrian Death Machine – Total Brutal

If Arnold Schwarzenegger were to write a metal album, I actually wouldn’t be surprised if it sounded exactly like this one! For those that don’t know, Austrian Death Machine is a side project of As I Lay Dying’s vocalist Tim Lambesis, and is a tribute band to the all mighty Governator. Tim openly states that this album “is an outlet of pure testosterone and stupidity”, and I think that sums it up perfectlyAfter a spoken introduction from Ahhnold (an impersonator), the album jumps straight into the brutal end with “Get To The Choppa”. Don’t expect the music to be anything new and extraordinary because it’s not supposed to be. This song is based on the same idea as pretty much every other song on the album; it’s fast, it’s brutal, and it has a guitar solo.

Unsurprisingly it does resemble As I Lay Dying material, but turned up a few notches. It’s generally faster, heavier and has a bit more of a thrash influence to it. It basically sounds more metal than Tim’s normal material, which is perhaps largely due to the way that Ahhnold’s yelling (which is largely movie quotes) is mixed in with the vocals, giving a bit of relief from Tim’s more hardcore-based vocal style. If there were no hilarious lyrics or skits throughout the album, it would probably be very boring because there’s very little variety between songs, but luckily you don’t really notice when listening to it as a whole.

There are quite a few funny skits in here that are mostly well done and quite humorous. Many of them are based around Arnie’s accent and uhh… well… less-than-genius intelligence level. One of my favourites features Ahhnold making fun of “that band, As I Lay Crying” and claiming that their singer sounds like a dying moose. There is also a skit called “What It’s Like To Be A Singer At Band Practice” that involves Ahhnold trying to get the band to actually practice a song at rehearsal while the guitarist ignore him and fiddles around on his guitar. I’m sure many band members will get a laugh out of that one.

Tim has done a fantastic job of mixing in skits and movie lines while still making it seem like an album rather than a comedy CD. The music is simple (which is fair enough considering he apparently wrote the songs in under an hour each), but works well to capture the attitude and overall brutalness of Arnie’s usual film characters. This is a very enjoyable album and a worthy tribute to such a legendary man.

If you’re an Arnie fan, definitely give this album a listen. For those that aren’t much of a fan, and don’t know his movies, it may not be quite as entertaining. 8/10

For fans of: As I Lay Dying, Annihilator, Arnold Schwarzenegger

Band: Austrian Death Machine
Album: Total Brutal
Year: 2008
Genre: Thrash/Hardcore
Label: Metal Blade Records
Origin: USA
http:www.myspace.com/austriandeathmachine

Track Listing:
1. Hello California
2. Get To The Choppa <- Reviewers Choice
3. Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers
4. All Of The Songs Sound The Same
5. I Am A Cybernetic Organism, Living Tissue Over (Metal) Endoskeleton
6. Come With Me If You Want To Live
7. What It’s Like To Be A Singer At Band Practice
8. Who Is Your Daddy And What Does He Do?
9. You Have Just Been Erased
10. Broo-Tall Song Idea
11. Here Is Subzero, Now Plain Zero
12. So Far, So Good, So Let’s Talk About It
13. Screw You (Benny)
14. Why?
15. If It Bleeds, We Can Kill It
16. It’s Not A Tumor
17. Not So Hidden Track