Sex. Violence. Death.

Allen West, the guitar player of Obituary and Six Feet Under among others, formed Lowbrow after he was kicked out from those bands. Mr. West is known from more or less primitive style of playing. And that's what you'll hear on this sophomore, final Lowbrow album, too.

I found Lowbrow's 1999 debut album 'Victims at Play' to be very much in vein of 'Haunted', the debut of 'Six Feet Under', and some Obituary, of course; mid-to-fast paced, groovy death metal. Guitars are about hacking slower riffing and faster tremolo picking (the second axe is played by ex-Nasty Savage guitarist Ben Meyer). This time around there are leads on most of the songs; they are there but they tend to go in to one ear and come out the other. The guitar tone is quite sharp, opposite to more muffled one on the debut. This also applies to the general production on this album which was again produced by Obituary drummer Donald Tardy and Mark Prator.

The rhythm section also come from Nasty Savage (well, among other bands): Richard Bateman's bass guitar both follows and adds extra to rhythm guitar work, while Curt Beeson's rather basic yet into-the-point drumming includes loads of double kicks. The rhythm section sound very organic, and I guess the band sounded like this when they played live.

Richard Hornbacher's vocals are vile. His throat lacerating barking voice is like a mixture of Chris Barnes' and John Tardy's styles. However, Mr. Hornbacher's outlet is almost totally invariable. Nothing new in death metal, this. The lyrics include some gore as expected, but also social commentary about various subjects.

The songs take place on a rather small playground, because of West's playing style. There is no place for show-offs or expanded compositions where he operates. You won't hear any technical wizardry on this album, that's guaranteed. The energy is there, and as a whole this feels to be kicking a bit more viciously than the debut album. And it simply rolls on.

Lowbrow is for the fans of Obituary, Six Feet Under, Benediction and primitive death metal in general. Simply as that, really! Put on that monkey mask (if needed), flush down yor favourite beer (and nothing fancier) and get some Lowbrow on yer stereo system, and ape on!!!

(Originally written for ArchaicMetallurgy.com)

This is total Neanderthal death metal, which makes it awesome. It's just pure Obituary worship from top to bottom with maybe a little Malevolent Creation and I'm pretty sure most of the music on this album was generated through the sound of knuckles dragging through dirt. This is for people who feel that Six Feet Under is just too fancy for them and wish they had a better soundtrack for their trailer park shenanigans.

All the riffs are slow tremolo or thrash-based and taken directly from the 'Cause Of Death' mold. It switches regularly between double bass passages and stomping rock beats, with vocals that are simply a lower version of John Tardy's grotesque howling. It's utterly simple and devoid of even a hint of subtlety. 'Sex.Violence.Death.' actually sets death metal back a decade whenever it's played. Never has a chosen band name been so horribly appropriate.

And all those reasons are why it's AWESOME! Lowbrow is absolutely devoid of pretense on this release, just cranking out simple, heavy-as-fuck oldschool death metal with sick vocals and excellent riffs. This is the logical album for every fan of Jungle Rot's stupid, stupid music, or those that think early Death was pretty much the pinnacle of human art. This album's entirely composed of slow, rocking grooves and growls about utterly generic death metal subjects. If you've heard 'Cause Of Death' you LITERALLY KNOW what this sounds like. There's nothing more to it! It's oldschool death metal!

I love this because it's so intentionally dumb and most people will probably hate it for the same reason. If you like your death metal to sound like it's composed by a special education classroom, this is the most amazing thing you'll ever hear in your life.