Beast on My Back (B.O.M.B.)

I listened to “Life of Dreams” some time in the late-80’s since friends of mine recommended it to me as a really cool slab of thrash/crossover along the lines of D.R.I. and early Carnivore. It was all right, but I hardly fell in love with it, and consequently never showed any interest in tracking down anything else from their camp. I came across Pro-Pain’s “Foul Taste of Freedom” a few years later, and I did like it since the guys were one of the better representatives of the new groove/thrashcore wave, and also one of its instigators. I followed the band all the way to the early-00’s although I found their first three instalments way superior to the last three.

We’re sitting with this friend of mine some time in 2001, animatedly discussing the very likely return of the old school to the fore, and are trying to envisage how 90’s heroes like Pro-Pain would be able to fit into this new canvas. I agree with him that the band’s last three showings were not that impressive as the guys were seemingly running on autopilot, producing the same stuff over and over with the novelty from their beginnings long since worn out. Then he shoots that the best thing Gary Meskil and Co. have put their name under is the Crumbsuckers sophomore. I thought he was joking, but the man said he was dead serious, and handed me immediately the album reviewed here.

Even by 2001 surprises within the metal circuit were a rare phenomenon, but this effort caught me completely unprepared. My friend didn’t tell me what to expect, just asked me to give it a listen. And I did listen to it with all the attention I could summon at the time. Mind you. The opener “Breakout” had to be something really thrashing hence the title… instead, it lures you into profound romanticism with a 1.5-min piano intro. If this isn’t the most offbeat beginning to a supposedly thrash metal opus, then I don’t know what is. I was sure this friend of mine had taken me for a ride as the guys had obviously spaced out in a way similar to Voivod and beyond. Then some gorgeous leads, taken straight from the Shrapnel catalogue, commence out of nowhere, and my confusion became even bigger; followed the jumpy scratchy riffs a few seconds later, and the fast-paced technical strokes, and that was it; thrash had come to stay in the band’s repertoire executed in a most proficient manner. A wonderful metamorphosis which has only started: “Jimmy’s Dream” is rather “Dave Mustaine’s dream” as this sophisticated intricate approach was later used as a base for the entire Megadeth’s “Rust in Peace”: just listen to the opening riff-salad and be flooded with memories of “Holy Wars” and “Tornado of Souls”; this short ripper is a masterpiece of vitriolic brisk thrash with a few corey breaks the latter also placed at the beginning of “Charge” which charges forward with lashing mid-tempo guitars before speedy crescendos take over and create numerous headbanging opportunities for the adventurous thrash entrepreneurs.

“Initial Shock” is another brilliant forerunner to “Rust in Peace”, a fabulous all-instrumental piece with stylish licks galore pouring from all pores along choppy breaks ala Mordred’s “In This Life”, plus a beautiful balladic passage. “I Am He” is a raging speedster with genuine technical decisions at every corner (watch out for the one at the end as well), leaving small room for a few slower stomping strokes and another quiet interlude. “The Connection” slows down acquiring more tamed power/thrash hybrid parametres, but the jarring rhythm-section and the excellent melodic guitar work will leave no one indifferent. “Rejuvenate” is a not very predictable shredder which linear start is transformed into a pleiad of intriguing stop-and-go rhythms and several more lyrical excursions. “Remembering Tomorrow” is a sequel to Iron Maiden’s “Remember Tomorrow”… kidding of course, but its sprawling balladic beginning goes in a similar direction until a march-like riff-pattern breaks the idyll and inaugurates a fast dynamic dash, the latter ornated by gorgeous melodic tunes. The title-track has the grateful task to wrap up this opus, and the guys unleash the final portion of speedy technical guitars, a tantalizing rifforama interrupted by the virtuous leads and a few more melodic decisions.

Progressive/technical thrash has settled in comfortably on US soil at the time, represented by the works of Watchtower, Toxik, and Realm although apart from the Watchtower debut every other effort was released at around the same time as the album here. Megadeth were just an unrealised potential in this train of thought (I guess sometimes it takes a prominent Shrapnel hero to do the trick), and Forbidden and Heathen were just primal bashers. Crumbsuckers followed their own mind without any strives for emulation, also willing to show to the world how proficient they were as musicians. Cause this opus is the best possible illustration of this intention also carving a path followed by other crossover practitioners towards a more thrash-fixated sound: D.R.I. (“Thrash Zone”), Suicidal Tendencies (“Lights, Camera, Revolution”), Nuclear Assault (“Out of Order”), Ludichrist (“Powertrip”)… even Rumble Militia (“They Give You the Blessing”), if you like, from the other side of the Atlantic. Needless to add, neither of the mentioned albums possessed the technical flair and the creative sweep of the Crumbsuckers work…unique stuff on all counts which for most fans was just a freaky phenomenon akin to other isolated technical/progressive efforts like Holocausto’s “Negatives” and Loudblast’s “Sublime Dementia”.

The follow-up in the face of the Pro-Pain exploits didn’t seem like the most logical one for me anymore; on the contrary, it now seemed like undermining the guys’ skills in a not very dignified way. And, the technical/progressive metal scene had more life in it, extended all the way to 1991; the Crumbsuckers could have fitted into it like a glove, “living the dream” as one of its most distinguished representatives. The groove, the aggro, and the grunge were mere vague nightmares at the time… mysteries, mysteries; to which only Gary Meskil and his comrades can throw some light on. If I ever come across them, these are the two questions I will ask them instantly, “Why on Earth did you not unleash a second “B.O.M.B.?!”; “Why did you…” actually, this second question I haven’t been able to formulate properly yet; so I’ll leave it at that. To be continued…