Act II: Undermine!

I have to say that I like this EP a lot. Crusher from France may have never been a major league player, this band never got huge recognition, but for underground death metal in France they were as good and worthy band as Mercyless, Loudblast or Massacra, in my opinion. Already as Frayeurs they recorded some cool demos. Then when they changed the name for Crusher, "Corporal Punishment" album was released and it's very good stuff. "Act II: Undermine!" EP was later released in 1993 by Semetery Records and it's just great, groovy but brutal death metal. Definitely worthy to check and a must for your old death metal collection.

It's quite simple I suppose to describe the music of Crusher on this EP, because it's hugely alike to British death metal commandos, in my opinion. Bolt Thrower, Napalm Death, Benediction - these bands come to my mind immediately, when I listen to "Act II: Undermine!". Also Gorefest, Obituary... but mostly the British death metal scene, with a small dose of grind! Even the vocals sound a lot like Dave Ingram and sometimes like Barney Greenway! And I don't see this as something bad, because Crusher really nailed some great songs for this EP. They're full of killer riffs, groove, brutality, so it’s a nice stuff, which definitely can give you an urge to bang your foooccciin head!!! With songs like "Storm Brewing" and "Undermine" (the fastest and really crushing song!) they bought me immediately, I always turn the volume as much as I can stand and enjoy this shit! With seven songs and 25 minutes of music, this EP turns into a nice feast... with only one exception, which is "Hell on Earth", a Discharge cover. But that's just because I'm totally not a fan of this sort of music, so I don't like the cover also, I don't care for it and sometimes just skip it, cause I don't want to waste my time for it. Other than that, "Act II: Undermine!" is a nice collection of songs and a solid continuation of "Corporal Punishment". Sadly, it's also been a swansong for Crusher, who split up soon later. But...! But they reformed, no one knows what for, in 2013 and already released a split 12"LP with Mercyless called "Blast from the Past". But I don't know what it's like, never heard a song from it. I don’t even care, to be honest. Old stuff is solid for sure though.

Standout track: "Storm Brewing", "Undermine"
Verdict: 70/100

Attempting to keep their heads afloat in a tide of death metal over saturation that was about to bury the shoreline in rotting, stinking corpses of varied careers, French Crusher released the Undermine EP in the year following their acceptable, but impregnable debut Corporal Punishment. It's much in the same style as that album, with a mix of old school death metal values, thrashing influence and a dash of grindcore extremity, the same mix of Napalm Death, Death, Bolt Thrower and Obituary. If anything, it's mixed at a slightly different level, and the low end mutes sound a little more forceful, but it's got the same deep, ominous tone.

There are seven tracks here, opening with a cool little industrial intro and then the crushing mosh of "Storm Brewing" and "Undermine", which flow with a nice, loud bass presence and some slightly more intricate groove riffing than one could have found on the band's debut. "Sell the Vatican's Wealth" ups the ferocity, with a storm of double bass that clearly could shake the walls down at any holy institution, and deep thrashing rhythms that evoke a violent reaction in the listener, under Crass's brutal, blood-soaked tones, which are louder here than the earlier release. "The Right to Be Different" is another concrete mix of thundering drums (this 'Charly' is on fire here), and it feels like it would have fit right in on Napalm Death's Harmony Corruption.

"In Your Face" gives you a nice, ample air raid warning before it clobbers you with yet more of the raging double bass and slow momentum of the grinding thrash rhythms. I actually feel that by this point of the EP, the band were starting to turn into a one-trick pony, and many of the originals sound precisely the same, with the brickhouse Obituary guitar tones and same rolling pace. A little more variety would have added value. "Hell on Earth" is a Discharge cover given an adequate, bruising treatment, and the closer "Man Submits" is at least a little faster than much of the other original writing on the album, though it has a pretty basic death breakdown.

Undermine is a reasonable extension of the band's debut album, with a more pronounced mix and arguably more engaging riffs, but it's not necessarily any more memorable, and the lack of dynamics does eventually catch up to the listener. If you were seeking to just have yourself clobbered by an aural equivalent of The Thing from Marvel comics, then certainly you could break this out alongside the Demolition Hammer and Napalm Death records, and probably fare pretty well. It's socially conscious Neanderthal metal that would have broken all the china at the local cafe, like a team of construction workers toiling underground at the Avenue des Champs Elysess, the noise of their labor erupting from a nearby manhole.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com