ANGER AS ART
“Virtual Sympathy”
Album Review by Iron Mathew

9.5/10

Anger As Art are a thrash/speed/death metal band from the USA formed in 2004, releasing six albums to date – ‘Anger As Art’ (2006), ‘Callous And Furor’ (2006), ‘Disfigure’ (2009), ‘Hubris Inc.’ (2013), ‘Ad Mortem Festinamus’ (2016), and ‘Virtual Sympathy’, emerging in 2023…

…featuring the bands trademark venom, aggression and brutality! Seven years ago I was bowled over by Anger As Art’s fifth album ‘Ad Mortem Festinamus’, steam rollering me with immense savagery – the band an unforgiving, unrelenting, full on and in your face thrash metal menace! And now the steam roller is back! Back with eleven more heavy hitters, full of soaring guitars, gut wrenching vocals, and searing speed – ‘The Crushing Wheel’ slowly striding into view, oozing menace and fright in abundance, the gruff growled vocals scaring many listeners into diving for cover behind the sofa. The tension Anger As Art build is incredible, fans of the band and of metal in general, know that this style of intro is only the beginning, lulling listeners into a false of security before all fucking hell breaks loose. And yep, there it is – ‘The Enemy Within’ roaring outta the blocks, destroying everyone and everything in sight as it accelerates to top speed! Battering listeners, fans and followers with a brutal club around the head, Anger As Art are back – and are just as angry and aggressive as ever!

And at less than a minute and a half in length, ‘Ice Pick’ is a screaming metalcore driven gallop of all out aggression – the band speeding along the border of death and speed metal to deliver a crushing crescendo of all out savagery. Savagery which is now in full swing, ‘Prevail Sympathy’ marching on with the mightiest of foot stomping attitudes, Anger As Art delivering a barrage of brutality to fell even the most hardened metalhead. And like I mentioned seven years ago, the band is no easy Sunday morning listen, the rough, tough and gruff nature of the bands music is gonna slam you through the fucking floor – and then jump on you for good measure! And all the trembling listeners hiding behind the sofa, can only watch as the diehard metallers stand tall and scream at the band “bring it on” – and bring it on they do, ‘Virtue Signals’ storming outta the thrash metal genre at high velocity. Punching hard and kicking harder, ‘Virtue Signals’ is gonna stretch neck muscles to breaking point, possibly beyond – the violent head banging among the worlds metalheads is surely gonna take its toll!

So with impending neck breaking a definite possibility, do we stop banging our heads? Fuck no! It’s just too much fun – ‘Colors Of The Dark’ maintaining the phenomenal intensity of the album. Speed is a major ingredient of Anger As Art’s music, as is brutality, aggression and anger – ‘Virtual Sympathy’ oozing all four in abundance! The band must have an unlimited supply, as I can’t see it running out anytime soon – the album moving on with the mid tempo thunder of the terrifying ‘Absent Sin’. And a scowling howling gut wrenching vocal display that’d tear the throats of us non-singers to shreds if we tried it! Vocalist Steve Gaines and the rest of the band have really made anger their art, the ferocity level through the fucking roof as the album storms on at full tilt with the roaring speedster ‘The Bleeding’. Banging heads faster and more violently than ever, ‘The Bleeding’ is a brutal bone crunching, skull crushing cacophony of all out savagery with the prospect of the band facing legal action for GBH, ABH and intent to wound listeners! But it’d never go to court, for every listener willingly knows what’s in store from an Anger As Art album – so bring it on…

…gimme more! Gimme much more! And gimme me more they do – the pulsating ‘Into This World’ sending shockwaves all around the world, setting off volcanoes and earthquakes just for fun! The crescendo of aggression building through ‘Into This World’ is let loose after a minute or so, Anger As Art more than living up to their reputation as a brutal force of nature. And with the bands previous album ‘Ad Mortem Festinamus’ still ringing in my ears – even after seven years – I’m now gonna have a second one doubling the ferocity bouncing around upstairs! Long live brutal metal! At least for two more songs anyway – the band not letting me down as ‘Waiting On The End’ rockets off at incredible velocity! The album has been a sublime mix of all out speed and mid tempo stomping, the band switching gears with consumate ease. The final song ‘Never Fade Away’, doesn’t let up with regards to scorching speed, flying by at an extreme rate of knots, featuring clean vocals alongside the bands normal roaring growl.

Overall, full force ferocity and aggression, ‘Virtual Sympathy’ is a savage barrage of speed, brutal thrash and growling death metal.

TRACKLIST

The Crushing Wheel

The Enemy Within
Ice Pick
Prevail Sympathy
Virtue Signals
Colors Of The Dark
Absent Sin
The Bleeding
Into This World
Waiting On The End
Never Fade Away

http://www.angerasart.com/
http://www.facebook.com/angerasart

This review is the property of Iron Mathew, Frenzy Fire and Metal Gods TV. It is strictly prohibited to copy any part of this review, unless you have both of the parties’ permission, or are the band/record label/PR company in question. Failure to adhere to these instructions will be considered as Plagiarism and you will be reported to the appropriate authorities

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