This Valdosta, Ga. band was formed earlier this decade with five members. After one tour and a three-song EP, they disbanded. Last year drummer Derek Bloom and guitarist/vocalists Travis Richter reformed it as a duo. Somehow they got signed to Epitaph Records.
One good thing that can be said about this album is that it is only 28 minutes and 37 seconds long. It is a jarring, abrasive collection of material. The tracks are short, often not fully developed songs but pieces and parts of them.
Richter’s vocals are harsh. There are certainly elements of metal on this album. Thrash-metal bands can make hearing a harsh vocalist bearable with good compositions, but that is not the case with The Color of Violence.
“Me and My Enormous Spiritual Erection” shows more development from a compositional standpoint. No bass player is credited but the instrument appears throughout the album and the playing is solid here. Richter rails against the ugly side of organized religion. “All you pedophile priests and liars of the cloth/ all your #*(%!#$ jewelry, cars and flat screen TVs/ I can’t wait to see you in jail.”
They utilize some time signature changes on the title track, with Richter displaying various guitar techniques.
“Christina, Christina” is likely what a schizophrenic hears inside his or her head on a bad day. Good bass playing is its one redeeming value.
Midway through “Crapandemic” Richter’s guitar playing drops way back in the mix and Bloom propels the song with his drumming. The lyrics describe greed running rampant. “You can’t feed the poor with Camel cash or billboard ads…..why?/ it’s a violent world and peace is a pipe dream.”
At the end is an unlisted 11th track. For the first two minutes it alternates between in-your-face noise and spacey, slow sections. Richter’s vocals shift between screeching and whispering. After two minutes it shifts into house music mode, which it rides out for four minutes. The drumming is snappy, the keyboards trippy and the bass line effective. These final four minutes is the best part of “Youthanize.”
To his credit, Bloom is a good drummer and should find a better musical endeavor for his skill.
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