Soilent Green

It seems like a lifetime since the lean, extreme New Orleans killing machine Soilent Green released their last album, 2001’s A Deleted Symphony for the Beaten Down. For the band members, who have endured everything from a seemingly endless series of van crashes while on tour to the death of an ex-band-mate, it’s probably seemed even longer. Confrontation certainly sounds like Soilent Green, as this band stand alone in the extreme music world: much like their last two albums blended together a bit too much, there’s nothing really new this time around, but there’s certainly enough of everything to keep any extreme metal fan happy. The level of musicianship is through the roof here, as the guys are getting even more technical than ever before, flailing around from blast-beating grind to Sabbath groove, stopping in at the hardcore scene along the way, and taking it all home with a very heavy take on what basically amounts to the blues. This time around, the guys throw in a few interludes in the form of various instrumental mellow jams and even a bass solo to give the listener a much-needed chance to breathe. Seriously messed up stuff, it may be impossible to tap your foot to their music, but this band remain a truly unstoppable force that creates a din that is just too much for most sane humans to comprehend. Confrontation shows the band at top form, harnessing all the bad luck they’ve endured into their finest work yet.