Conflict

This is another of the CDs I got from my friend Bart in a job lot, though I can still remember how he described Explosicum. He said, “This Chinese thrash. Best China thrash!” (His grammar isn’t so good, but it’s best if you ignore that when exploring heavy music in China.) And, happily, I think he was right. These guys from Nanchang have been in the game for nearly 15 years, but it took until 2008 for this debut to appear. Their influences are pretty standard as far as I can tell: it seems like they dug Metallica and early Anthrax when writing these nine songs, since the rhythm guitars use a great deal of down-picking to achieve their regularity, while gang vocals also pop up on plenty of occasions.

In fact, the group shouts are somewhat of a mercy, because the most divisive element of Explosicum’s sound is surely the singer Tan Chong, who shows more enthusiasm than skill. His shouty voice grabs the listener’s attention, but he sounds more like a 40-a-day smoker mum yelling at her kids than an angry or passionate thrash vocalist. He’s loud as well, which might put some people off the experience entirely. Then again, the levels of the other instruments give clarity to the bass playing and the snare, even if Zhong Ran is likely to be a little annoyed about what happened to his kick drum, which makes the same sound as me when I kick my desk.

Due to the overwhelming volume and thickness of the production, Conflict ends up sounding heavier than it really is, mostly because every bandmember is determined to (metaphorically) kick you in the nuts without allowing you time to breathe. The pace of the songs also subverts expectations, since plenty of mid-paced chugging exists on songs such as ‘解救我’ (‘Rescue Me’) that seems more frantic because of the urgent vocals and constant scratching of bass. However, the pace genuinely hots up on the title track and ‘风暴’ (‘Storm’), which even become slightly technical in their shredding and riffing. The outer limit of Explosicum’s sound is represented by the death metal leanings of ‘大屠杀’ (‘Holocaust’), while very little of a less heavy nature emerges from the 41 minute experience, only the intro of ‘塌陷’ (‘Collapse’) offering clean guitar.

As for my friend’s assessment of “best China thrash”, he’s lucky that my knowledge of the scene is limited (I can only think of Punisher that might be superior), though I would hazard a guess that this kind of material goes down a storm at gigs. Other than the vocalist being a minor nuisance, the song ‘开火’ (‘Fire Fire’) grows quickly repetitive and a couple of moments get lost in the general energy because the riffs fall flat. Thankfully, much of the album keeps enthusiasm levels high, though I find it amusing to note that ‘Slaaaaaayer!!!’ (you know they must have counted six ‘a’s) isn’t the heaviest nor the most enthusiast of the cuts. To be honest, I don’t need to listen to this very regularly, but I always have fun when I do.