American Head Charge -The Feeding

Tue 28th Jun, 2005 in Music Reviews

Want to hear the sounds of a band that doesn’t give a fuck? I introduce to you American Head Charge.

The best way to describe their music would be unrestrained ferocity coupled with chugging guitars and a bit of an Industrial sound thrown in. But then again, it is so much more than that. It’s hard to put a finger on, exactly, but there is just something about this record that is simultaneously creepy and disturbing, but immensely enjoyable as well.

Maybe the knowledge of the band’s history has something to do with it. Singer Martin Cock and bassist H.C. Banks III met in a Minnesota rehab facility and, in short, started a band that had all the poignancy of a car crash.

American Head Charge released their debut, entitled The War of Art, in 2001 – about the same time they fired guns and threw pig heads at the crowd during their Ozzfest appearance.

Goodness knows how the band has made it through the last few years of relapses and near-breakdowns, as well as the recent tragic death of guitarist Brian Ottoson shortly after the release of this album in America, but they are still around today. The Feeding is an album that, while you’d NEVER call it optimistic, is testament to the rewards of sticking it out and emerging from, well, somewhere inherently worse than where you are now.

Kicking off the proceedings is Loyalty, a rack that begins by sounding crisp and articulate before industrial guitars, drums and Cock’s almighty hollers kick in. It is rather bit creepy and demonic – but that’s what makes it so good.

Now let’s discuss the rage. Take What I’ve Taken is all twisted vocals and buzzing guitars that serve to accentuate the pent-up frustration of the song, until the chorus unleashes the maniac within. Leave Me Alone, too, is pure anger. However, the most effective moments of chagrin occur in Walk Away.

A doom guitar intro is stripped right back into minimalist keyboards and guitars. The chorus is all soaring vocals, but without ever losing that dark edge that seems to permeate each track on this release. And then we are suddenly hit with hands-down one of the most brutal parts of the album. You have seldom heard rage as goddamn concentrated as in Cock’s roared vocals towards the end of the song. Forget the all-too-present-in-this-day-and-age emo attempt at faux anger. This is the real thing. And it kicks arse.

Now that we’ve touched upon the ever-present menace of this album, I would like to mention that it isn’t always delivered in a straightforward way, vocally or musically. Take for example the track Ridicule. This song is just plain creepy with its introduction of distorted spoken vocals. 

Pledge Allegiance has a groovy intro before rocking guitars take the spotlight, and Erratic pays homage to a more traditional metal sound with its rapid double-kicks and squealing guitars. Awww yeah. It’s all about chaos, baby. 

Cowards is more thrashy than anything else on the album, with the rapid-fire drums perfectly accompanying the searing guitars. 

Then we have closer To Be Me. This song is much slower, the focal points being articulate singing against a backdrop of minimalist keyboard and sporadic drumming. It is a nice (well, as nice as the band can provide) ending to the album - a bit of respite for the ears. 

A great album and hopefully not the last one we’ll see from American Head Charge.