I came upon this disc via several mutual contacts and recommendations. I was told the band had somewhat of a history and had played some places and with some bands I was familiar with, so I figured why not. The cover art intrigued me to the task of trying to figure out what this band was all about: politics, Metal, or both?

ELCTRIKCHAIR released their first demo in 2003 with the Rodriguez brothers comprising the foundation of the band. The bassist slot has been a revolving door for them, but perhaps they have found the right person in Hades. They have played with the likes of 3 INCHES OF BLOOD, DEATH ANGEL, and a performance at the Milwaukee Metalfest 2004 as well as appearances at CBGB's and The Whiskey.

First off I gotta say the band wear their influences on their sleeves, but the enough of an extra flare to make them original as well. There are numbers such as Monsters Among Us that has somewhat of a Bay Area Thrash mixed with a Metalcore kind of vibe the third track also falls somewhat into that sound. Then there is my favorite track, Nuclear Holocaust, that takes that initial formula and adds some IRON MAIDEN style galloping guitar. My second favorite track was Citicorpse particularly because of the DARK TRANQUILITY influence present on this track. For Sand or For Oil was a little bit of a blast from the past with an 80's Thrash/Punk sound, which was pretty fun. The one thing I didn't like was Andy's clean vocals that appear sporadically throughout the album. It sounds like he steps back from the mic or softens his power. Just because you soften the growl doesn't mean that the volume needs to come down.

On the whole Citicorpse is good album with some highlights and some things that need improvement. ELCTRIKCHAIR are a young band that some room to grow, but the talent is definitely there it just needs to be molded correctly by the right sound engineer and little more practice.